News

Jul 19, 2023

Dora E. Bundy, housekeeper and nanny known for being a firm disciplinarian, dies at 103

Dora E. Bundy, a housekeeper and nanny who was known for being a “firm disciplinarian,” died of kidney failure and a urinary tract infection July 27 at her godson Billy Horn’s Gwynn Oak home. The

Dora E. Bundy, a housekeeper and nanny who was known for being a “firm disciplinarian,” died of kidney failure and a urinary tract infection July 27 at her godson Billy Horn’s Gwynn Oak home. The former longtime West Baltimore resident was 103.

Dora Elizabeth Foster, daughter of Henry Foster and Bernice Foster, was born in Henderson, North Carolina, where she lived until she was 13 before moving with her family to Baltimore.

Mrs. Bundy, whose two marriages ended in divorce, was childless, but she channeled her love of children into those for whom she cared.

Mrs. Bundy became a housekeeper and nanny for several families before going to work for Dr. Victor A. McKusick and Dr. Anne Bishop McKusick, both prominent Johns Hopkins Hospital physicians who are now deceased.

“She came to work for the McKusick family on McElderry Street in 1954, just 11 days after the Orioles played their first game in Baltimore,” wrote Kenneth A. McKusick in an email.

“My sister, Carol, was six months old, and I was born in 1963, and my brother, Victor, in 1964. Our parents were doctors and Dora took care of us and she was the boss until mom and dad got home. She raised us and was a mother figure to us,” Mr. McKusick said in a telephone interview.

Mrs. Bundy continued working for the McKusick family as they moved from McElderry Street to Rodgers Forge, and finally in 1965, to Guilford.

“She was a firm disciplinarian who met the ‘loved and feared’ standard,” Mr. McKusick said, referring to political theorists Niccolò Machiavelli’s famous line from “The Prince,” “It is better to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both.”

“She had two distinct tones of voice, half mocking many of the things I said,” Mr. McKusick said, “but she could drop her voice a couple of octaves to impart meaningful advice like, ‘Kenneth, you don’t need no dog.’”

[ Dr. Anne B. McKusick, Hopkins rheumatologist who worked on the Manhattan Project ]

He said if the children did something wrong, Mrs. Bundy was pretty handy with a spatula or wooden spoon when it came time to administer behavioral adjustments.

She played an important, influential and ongoing role in the lives of the McKusick children.

Mr. McKusick recalled when the Orioles established the Junior Orioles program.

“That’s how we went to most Orioles games in the 1970s. When I first learned of it, it was just $2 to attend 10 games in upper reserve behind home plate,” Mr. McKusick said. “That was too much of a savings to pass up, even with our ‘own money,’ whatever that means at age 10.”

Mrs. Bundy was drafted to escort her charges to the old Memorial Stadium on East 33rd Street.

“Our parents weren’t sports fans but they weren’t quite ready to let us go to those games by ourselves without supervision, even though we lived a mile or so from Memorial Stadium,” he said. “Usually, Dora would be the one to take us and some of my fondest childhood memories with her were at the Orioles games and occasionally the Colts as well.”

A die-hard thoroughbred racing fan, Mrs. Bundy’s frequently dropped by Pimlico Race Course after her workday ended.

“Dora taught me to read the racing form in The Baltimore Sun,” Mr. McKusick recalled with a laugh.

In addition to baseball and horse racing, Mrs. Bundy was a football fan.

Dr. Jack McKay Zimmerman was the chief of surgery at Church and Home Hospital who brought hospice care to Baltimore. (handout)

“She came to work for me in 1993 when we lived in Original Northwood and then when we moved to Ruxton,” Mr. McKusick said. “She worked for us until she was 90 and definitely didn’t want to retire.”

Tracy A. Horn, who is Mr. Horn’s daughter, and lives in Gwynn Oak, was very close to Mrs. Bundy, who referred to her as her granddaughter, and she called “Mama Dora.”

Mrs. Bundy lived independently until she was 97, at which time Mr. Horn, an Army veteran, moved her into his Gwynn Oak home.

“She was a sweet, sweet, sweet straightforward person, but she gave it to you the way it came out and didn’t cut any corners,” Ms. Horn said.

She added with a laugh: “She was a great conversationalist and kind of nosy, and she knew a lot of information and history.”

In June, Ms. Bundy was diagnosed with stage 4 renal disease.

“She had been at Autumn Lake nursing home in Pikesville, and then she wanted to go home, and my father took her back to his home,” Ms. Horn said.

“The last few weeks, she knew her time on earth was coming to an end, but she was happy and she wanted to transition at home,” Ms. Horn said. “She was a very important part of our lives. She knew my dad from the time he was six month old, and I’ve know her for my entire 47 years.”

Mrs. Bundy still carried pictures of the McKusick children from the time they were 10 in her wallet.

“Until she was 102, she’d call us on our birthdays and start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in her raspy voice,” Mr. McKusick said. “It always made me cry.”

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the March Life Tribute Center, 5616 Old Court Road, Windsor Mill.

Aside from Mr. Horn, additional information on survivors was not immediately available.