Ethel Griffith Rothe, a retired school guidance counselor died on December 9, 2024, after a short illness at her Dundalk residence. She was 97.

Born Ethel Marie Griffith in Wheeling, West Virginia, she moved to Baltimore as a very young child when her father's position with the Fokkers Motor Aircraft Company was transferred to Dundalk.  She later attended St. Rita's School and Seton High School.  In 1945 she began her college studies at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy, but dropped out two years later when she married Edward E. Rothe.  They were married in 1947 and settled in Dundalk where they built their home on Dunglow Road.

After her youngest child began attending school she resumed her education. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Towson State University in 1967 majoring in English and Drama.  After teaching English at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in the Brooklyn area for several years she returned to college earning her Master's Degree as a Reading Specialist from Loyola College in 1972.Soon after graduation she became a Regional Disseminator in the Right to Read program. Mrs. Rothe later pursued her second Master's  Degree in Guidance and Counseling at Johns Hopkins University.  Upon completion of her graduate studies in 1978, became a Guidance Counselor at Northeast Middle School where she worked until her retirement in 1992.

She enjoyed the arts and subscribed to the Baltimore Opera Company, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and to the theaters, both professional and nonprofessional.

She was a member of Saint Rita's Church for most of her life. She also belonged to several organizations in the community- The Dundalk Lioness Club, the Dundalk Concert Association, the Dundalk Community Theater, the Dundalk Historical Society, the Dundalk Chapter of AARP, the Sparrows Point Country Club and served as president of the Dundalk Rotary's Innerwheel.  Mrs. Rothe also belonged to several professional organizations, the State Teacher's Organization was a member of the National Board of Certified Counselors.

Mrs. Rothe and her husband traveled extensively, exploring every continent of the world except Antarctica.  Realizing the educational value in world travel, they took their grown children and their spouses, as well as their grown grandchildren on trips to Europe, Africa, India the Middle East and on cruises to the Caribbean, the Aegean the Mediterranean Seas, and to Scandinavia and Russia.

Mrs. Rothe is survived by her daughter Janet R. Tjarks and two grandchildren, Christine and Joseph Rothe as well as many nieces and nephews.  She is predeceased by her husband, Edward E. Rothe, her sons Edward W. Rothe, and Robert E. Rothe, and by her grandson Robert E Rothe, Jr.

A funeral service will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk, Inc., 7922 Wise Ave. on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at 11 AM. Interment, Oak Lawn Cemetery. Friends may call on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 from 10-11 AM.