GBMC Salutes Deane Laycock

A member of GBMC’s Elizabeth Duncan Yaggy Society and Virginia Sherwood Council, Deane Laycock is quiet and unassuming. She possesses a strong silence, and exudes a rare blend of confidence in herself with compassion for others.

She first came to GBMC when her late husband of 49 years, Zane, sought treatment for lung cancer. Few would have blamed Deane for becoming bitter about Zane’s illness which befell a non-smoker settling into retirement after a challenging career which included moving 16 times. Instead, Deane, who was battling a debilitating hip ailment of her own, never complained, “From an early age, I learned to accept things the way they were and work with the challenges I confronted.”

It was this gritty toughness that enabled Deane to nurse her terminal husband until his death, in 2001. It was the same resolve that sparked her ascent in the business world which included a position as the first woman Executive Assistant to the President of Yale University. When she retired, she was managing million dollar investment portfolios as Vice President of Boston’s Fiduciary Trust Company. Her co-workers boasted diplomas from Harvard and Yale. Deane adds frankly, “...my diploma is from the school of hard knocks.”

Quite an accomplishment for someone who grew up in Lutherville during the depression and had to support her family when her father died at an early age. In a time when women were discriminated against in the workplace, Deane blazed the trail for future generations with keen intelligence and unparalleled tenacity.

Today, Deane has adopted GBMC’s family as her own. She is a role model for women and men, young and old. Though she is legally blind, she has not slowed down in retirement. She was recently elected to the Oak Crest Village Resident Advisory Council for a two-year term and continues to support GBMC in ways too numerous to mention. We at GBMC are happy to have her on our team.

GBMC Foundation
6701 North Charles Street
Baltimore,MD 21204
443-849-3303 | Fax: 443-849-3739
E-Mail: JJeppi@GBMC.org