RETIRED D.C. SOCIAL WORKER MAYE SEPHUS SMITH, 77, DIES

Maye Sephus Smith, 77, a social worker in the D.C. public school system who was active in community and service organizations, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 15 at the Washington Hospital Center.

Mrs. Smith began her career with the D.C. schools in 1944 as a teacher. She later was a counselor and then a social worker. She retired in 1976, but returned to work in 1980. She was assigned to John Tyler Elementary School at the time of her death.

For the past 20 years, Mrs. Smith also had operated two boarding houses in Washington.

She was a former chairman of the National Black Women's Political Caucus, a member of the board of directors of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA and a member of the Howard University Women's Club, the National Urban League, the NAACP, the Association of the American Sociological Society for Blacks, the Association for the Preservation and Presentation of the Arts and St. Luke's Episcopal Church. She also had been active in the Change Community Center and the Citizens Community Center for the Homeless.

Mrs. Smith, who lived in Washington, was born in Algiers, Miss. She graduated from what is now Jackson State University and received a master's degree in social work from Howard University. She was a teacher in Mississippi before moving to Washington in 1944.

Her marriage to Ossie Smith ended in divorce.

A daughter, Faye Hamilton, died in 1985. Survivors include four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

FLORENCE C. LAMB

Active in Churches

Florence Casey Lamb, 74, a former area second-grade teacher who was active in area Catholic organizations, died Dec. 12 at a hospital in Bunnell, Fla., after a heart attack and stroke. She lived in Palm Coast, Fla.

Mrs. Lamb, a former resident of Bladensburg and College Park, lived in the Washington area from 1942 to 1978. She was a native of Brooklyn and a graduate of St. John's University.

She taught at the school at St. Jerome's Catholic Church in Hyattsville from the mid-1930s to about 1970. She had also been a member of St. Jerome's and was a past president of the sodality there.

Mrs. Lamb also had been a member of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in College Park. She was a past president of the Gonzaga College High School mothers' club and had been a member of the Newman Club of Washington.

Survivors include her husband, Frank, of Palm Coast; two sons, Richard, of Jupiter, Fla., and Robert, of Laytonsville, Md.; a daughter, Charlene Lamb of Greenbelt; and four grandchildren.

ARTHUR JOHN KOWALK

Veterinarian

Arthur John Kowalk, 63, a retired veterinarian with the Food and Drug Administration who was a member of the Silver Spring stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died of cardiac arrest Dec. 15 at Leland Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Kowalk, who was stricken at his home in Adelphi, was born in College Point, N.Y. He graduated from Cornell University and received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Cornell.

He began his government career in 1956 as a veterinarian with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Wyoming. He transferred to Washington in 1958 and joined the FDA. He retired from the agency in 1978, but continued a private veterinary practice until his death.

Survivors include his wife, Emma Kowalk of Adelphi; four children, Ehret Kowalk of Lafayette, Calif., Laura Schneiber of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Nancy Lee of Chicago and Mark Kowalk of Kirkland, Wash.; a brother, John Kowalk of Schenectady, N.Y., and eight grandchildren.

PAUL C. THOMAS

Operating Engineer

Paul C. Thomas, 88, a retired operating engineer at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the Treasury Department, died of heart ailments Dec. 15 at Southern Maryland Hospital in Clinton.

Mr. Thomas, a resident of Clinton, was born in Jefferson, Md. As a young man he was a merchant seaman and then a farmer in North Carolina. He moved to Washington in 1941, and went to work for the Treasury. He retired in 1965.

Survivors include his wife, Katherine H. Thomas of Clinton; two children, Katherine Gloria Goodwin of Temple Hills and Robert P. Thomas of Fort Washington; two sisters, Helen G. Thomas and Nora E. Thomas, both of Sykesville, Md.; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

RONALD DEAN BRANDON

CIA Administrative Officer

Ronald Dean Brandon, 61, a retired CIA administrative officer and H&R Block assistant manager, died of cardiac arrest Nov. 28 at his home in Martinsburg, W.Va., where he had lived since 1984.

He worked for the CIA, here and abroad, for 21 years before retiring in 1973. He then worked in Arlington for H&R Block until retiring a second time in 1984.

Mr. Brandon was born in Iowa and moved here in 1942. He graduated from Central High School and George Washington University. He served in the Army from 1946 to 1949.

There are no immediate survivors.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.