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Slain MD Newpaper Reporter's Ashes Spread Over Baseball Park

Capital Gazette

WASHINGTON (AP) - The widow of a slain Maryland newspaper reporter has spread his ashes at Washington Nationals Park.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Andrea Chamblee placed the ashes of John McNamara in a planter of begonias at the park Saturday. The planter is located where the stands meet the left-field wall.

The 56-year-old McNamara covered news and sports at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. He was one of five staff members killed when a gunman entered the newsroom in late June.

The baseball stadium where the Washington Nationals play was a sacred place for McNamara. He had waited three decades for a big-league team to return to Washington and had rejoiced when the Nationals arrived in 2005.

Chamblee said her husband had jokingly asked in 2017 that she spread his ashes there.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.