Mary Ellen Condon-Rall, nee Condon passed away from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on August 2, 2024 at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home in Catonsville, MD. She is survived by her brothers Bernard and Brian Condon, her sister Rachel Bruce, her stepdaughters Madelyn Badger and Sara Rall, and numerous nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Wilfrid Rall, who worked for many years as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health, and by her parents Bernard and Rachel Condon (nee Riggott).
Mary Ellen was born December 11, 1938 in Brooklyn, NY and graduated from St. Jerome Elementary School and Catherine McAuley High School in Brooklyn. She earned a BA degree from Molloy College in N.Y., an MA from Fordham University and a Ph.D. from the University of London in England. She worked as a historian in the US Army Medical Department's Historical Unit which was later moved to the US Army Center for Military History. Mary Ellen authored books, chapters in books and articles on military medicine and naval history.
At retirement she moved from Wheaton, MD to the Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Nellysford, Virginia. She later resided back in Maryland at Sunrise of Bethesda before moving to St. Joseph’s. Mary Ellen traveled widely and participated, sometimes as an officer, in professional and local community organizations. She enjoyed public speaking and theater and was devoted to her family. She was for years a member of the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC.
A viewing will take place 10 AM on Friday, August 9 in the chapel at St. Joseph’s Nursing Home at 1222 Tugwell Drive, Catonsville, MD 21228 (410-747-0026). A Catholic funeral mass is scheduled to follow there at 11 AM and then burial will be at about 1PM that date at Loudon Park Cemetery, 3620 Wilkins Ave., Baltimore, MD 21229 (410-644-1900). Arrangements are being handled by the Loudon Park Funeral Home (same telephone). Contributions can be made toward the upkeep and expansion of St. Joseph’s Nursing Home.