Turning once again to the photograph of children in the Germantown neighborhood of Annapolis, MD, we have Owen Alvey Basil, Sr (1914-1990) who was also known as Butch.
Owen was the son of Frank Nelson Basil (1875-1960) and Carrie Lavinia Brown (1877-1920). Frank was a butcher with a stall in the Annapolis Market and Butch followed in his father’s footsteps as the owner and operator of Frank Basil & Son Incorporated before switching to a career in real estate. Butch married Betty Brooks (1916-1985) and they had four daughters and two sons. The Brooks and Basil families have deep roots in Annapolis.
Butch’s obituary, which appeared in The Capital on 17 October 1990, informed that “A high point of his life was his active participation in Alcoholics Anonymous” and that he was a founder of a halfway house for recovering alcoholics called Samaritan House. He served as president of the Optimist Club and was a member of the Annapolis Elks Lodge.
Butch and Betty are buried in the Saint Anne’s Cedar Bluff Cemetery in Annapolis (146886053 and 146886075).
In the 1930 Census the Basil family resided at 447 West Street, Annapolis, an address that no longer exists. As we go along we’ll see that the children in the photograph lived near to each other.
