Brown Metcalfe "Gibby" Roe Jr., 71

CAMBRIDGE, Md. - Brown Metcalfe "Gibby" Roe Jr. of Cambridge passed away Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, in the Chesapeake Woods Center, Cambridge. He was 71.

He was born Oct. 14, 1935, in Chestertown, one of the first babies born at Kent & Queen Anne"s Hospital.

Mr. Roe was the son of the late Brown Metcalfe and Barbee Humphreys Roe of Chestertown.

He lived the earlier part of his life in Sudlersville, Queen Anne"s County, where the elder Mr. Roe was engaged in the family grain business, W.D. Roe & Son, with his father, former Maryland delegate, state senator and U.S. congressman, Dudley George Roe, who represented Queen Anne"s County from 1907 to 1947.

Mr. Roe attended the Virginia Episcopal School, Lynchburg, where he lettered in football, baseball and track and served on the honor committee.

He attended Washington College in Chestertown before joining the Marine Corps.

After discharge from the Marine Corps, he started his career with the D&R Supply Co., Chestertown, a fuel oil distribution company which also operated gas stations throughout Kent, Queen Anne"s, Cecil, Caroline and Talbot counties, and which was founded by his father in 1948.

Mr. Roe succeeded his father as president of the firm in 1978 and served in that capacity until the sale of the company in 1989.

He was a director of the Sudlersville Bank of Maryland which was founded by his great-great-grandfather, Joseph Edwin George, in 1904.

The bank was purchased by Mercantile and later merged with the Chestertown Bank of Maryland.

A life-long outdoorsman, Mr. Roe and partners purchased property in Crocheron in Dorchester County in 1971 which became the Jenny Island Hunting Lodge.

In 1986, Mr. Roe moved from Chestertown to "Elysium," his home in the Neck District of Dorchester County.

He was one of the organizers of the present chapter of Ducks Unlimited in Kent County and has actively supported its programs for 40 years.

He served on the board of the Friends of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and supported the Ward Museum, the annual Waterfowl Festival in Easton, the National Wildlife Turkey Federation and the historical societies in Dorchester and Talbot counties.

On his paternal side, Mr. Roe was descended from Thomas Roe, who settled in Talbot County in 1673, and on his maternal side he was descended from Joshua Humphreys, the designer of the ships comprising the first U.S. Navy, among them the U.S.F. Constitution and U.S.F. Constellation.

He was preceded in death by a son, Marshall Kenly Roe Sr., in 2006.

Mr. Roe is survived by his son, Brown Metcalfe Roe III of Warwick; five grandchildren; a sister, Page Barroll of Baltimore; and an uncle, William M.D. Roe of Sudlersville.

A funeral service will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Christ Episcopal Church, High Street, Cambridge, with the Rev. Michael D. Reddig, the Rev. Robert Brown, the Rev. Pardee Bramble and the Rev. A. Delmer Willey officiating.

Interment will follow in the Sudlersville Cemetery, where full military honors will be accorded by the U.S. Marines.

Active pallbearers will be Edward Gillespie, Robert Thompson, Sandy Roe, Sonny Jackson, Kevin Morgan and Dr. Edward Connelly. Honorary bearers will be Bill Graf, Dr. Lee Smith, Ralph W. Jackson Jr., Roger Brown, Bradley K. Bradford, Earl Todd, Glenn Carowan, Billy Roe, Jack Diller and Rod Hall.

Instead of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Friends of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, P.O. Box 1231, Cambridge, MD 21613.

Arrangements by Thomas Funeral Home, Cambridge.