Courtney Garland Iglehart, educational administrator and opera aficionado, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Courtney Garland Iglehart, an educational administrator and opera aficionado, died of a heart attack Dec. 24 at the University of Maryland St. Joseph’s Medical Center. The West Towson resident was 93.

Born in Lake Forest, Illinois, she was the daughter of Charles S. “Chuck” Garland, an investment banker and 1920 Wimbledon doubles tennis co-winner, and Aurelia Stoner, an artist and community volunteer.

She and her family moved to Baltimore in 1939 when her father was named managing partner of the old Alex. Brown & Sons investment banking house.

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She was a graduate of Garrison Forest School, where she sang in a choral group. She earned a bachelor of arts at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie Town, New York.

In 1952 she married Iredell W. “Idy” Iglehart at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer.

They moved to Manhattan in 1955 when Mr. Iglehart transferred from Davison Chemical Co. to its parent company W.R. Grace.

Mrs. Iglehart was a member of the Colonial Dames of America and volunteered at its headquarters, then called the Abigail Adams Smith Museum near the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan. The site is now known as the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden.

Mrs. Iglehart served as the Colonial Dames president general for a four-year term.

She later worked at St. Bernard’s School, a private elementary school for boys, on 98th Street in Manhattan. She worked in its development office and later in admissions. She was the U.S. representative for the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence, France.

She and her husband retired to Baltimore in 1990. They lived in the Rockland neighborhood of Baltimore County before moving to the Blakehurst retirement community in early 2010.

Mrs. Iglehart loved music and was active in the Blakehurst Choral Society. She boarded the retirement community’s bus to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts at the Charles Theater. She had earlier attended performances of the old Baltimore Opera Company.

“Courtney had great presence,” said a friend, Dr. William F. “Bill” Fritz. “She was intelligent and witty and had a love of culture. She was an advocate of fine art and opera. She was authentic, knowledgeable and reliable.”

She was a dedicated weekly Rummikub player.

“The game is almost like Scrabble and dominos,” said her son, Dr. Iredell W. Iglehart III. “She and her friends spent hours playing it.”

He also said his mother’s interest in genealogy, together with a razor-sharp memory, made her the family’s go-to person for history.

“She was ever interested in others’ life stories, and generous and gracious in reaching out and welcoming numerous nieces, nephews and younger generations of family,” he said.

Mrs. Iglehart spent her summers in the Adirondack Mountains.

“She found great strength and peace there, and never missed a summer since first arriving at the Ausable Club [in Saint Huberts, New York] at age 9,” he said.

“My mother mastered her iPad and iPhone. She kept up with her many lifelong contacts on a regular basis right up into her final days,” he said.

Dr. Earl P. Galleher, a friend, said: “I had known Courtney from my years at Gilman. I took her to house parties at Princeton. She was an outgoing and loving person.”

She is survived by two daughters, Courtney D’Alessio, of Rye, New Hampshire, and Alice Schwarz, of New York City; a son, Dr. Iredell W. Iglehart III, of Baltimore; her sister, Aurelia G. Bolton, of Baltimore; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 2010.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. March 9 at the Episcopal Church of Redeemer at 5603 N. Charles St., where she was a communicant.