Loretta McGraw

Loretta McGraw, 83, of Oxford, PA, formerly of White Hall, MD, passed away on July 20, 2025.

Loretta was born on June 19, 1942 to Mary Foley McGraw and Nelson McGraw. She grew up in Capitol Heights, MD and graduated from Central High School in 1960. Loretta attended the University of Maryland and earned her Bachelor's degree in Education in 1964. She then began her first teaching job at Gwynn Park High School as a physical education teacher. During the summers, she was a camp counselor at Camp Navarac on Saranac Lake, where her love of the Adirondacks began and where many life-long friendships were created.

She then attended Boston University and obtained her Master's degree in Special Education with a focus in Deaf/Blind studies in 1968. Loretta spent her career teaching vision and hearing impaired students while developing programs to promote inclusion for these students in schools. This was a novel idea at the time and she rose to the challenge. While working at the Maryland School for the Blind, she spear-headed a new outreach initiative to bring more children and their families into these programs so that they could be educated alongside their peers.

Following her retirement from the Maryland State Department of Education in 2001, she built Pine Meadows Farm in White Hall, MD where she spent her days with her beloved horses Sunny, Nugget, and Glory. They were "the bedrock of my existence" - her words. When she was not with her horses, she was usually researching her family history, sailing the Chesapeake on her sailboat "Gemini", or enjoying a chai tea with binoculars in hand and her yellow lab, Montana, at her side.

Loretta was a fierce advocate for women's rights, social justice, and the environment. She was steadfast in her beliefs and dry with her humor. She will be missed by many cousins, friends near and far, and all those whose lives she has touched.

A memorial luncheon will be held upstairs at Octoraro Tavern, 2 South 3rd St, Oxford, PA, on Monday, August 11th from 12-2pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Canine Companions or Community Forklift in Hayattsville, MD www.communityforklift.org/donate/donate-funds/ in her memory.