The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce will host a luncheon November 16 at 12 p.m. at Black Diamond Lodge, in Fruitland, Maryland. The event will feature Maryland Secretaries George Owings III of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Rona Kramer of the Department of Aging. Owings will be discussing his department and along with its upcoming challenges and opportunities. Kramer will address the role of the Department of Aging and innovations the department is bringing to communities to allow Maryland’s older adults to age in their community, their home, or a location of their choosing.
Owings joined in the Marine Corps beginning in 1964 and served several terms in Vietnam, earning the rank of Sergeant and a Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Unit Commendation, Navy-Marine Corps Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal. He re-entered the Corps in 1985 and served two years as an active reservist. In 1987 he was appointmented by then Governor William Donald Schaefer to the House of Delegates.
He served seventeen years in the House of Delegates with ten years as the Majority Whip. He then left to join Governor Bob Ehrlich’s Administration as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs in 2004 in which he created the agency’s Outreach and Advocacy department and monthly newsletter. He addressed that the land available for the out years for those to be buried in one of Maryland’s five Veteran cemeteries. He instituted land transfers for two of the cemeteries where space was crucial and made sure that burial sites at the other three state owned cemeteries were sufficient before his appointment ended.
After the 2006 election he was asked to remain on the job for the new administration’s first legislative session, and retired in June of 2007.
In February of 2015, Owings was sworn in a second time as the Secretary for the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs under Governor Hogan.
Secretary Rona Kramer was elected to the Maryland Senate, representing District 14, Montgomery County in November 2002 and served for eight years. She sat on the Budget and Taxation Committee, including the Capital Budget subcommittee, Pensions subcommittee, Joint Audit Committee, Executive Nominations Committee, and Spending Affordability Committee. She chaired the Montgomery County Delegation as well. She led sponsorship for bills establishing the Silver Alert Program, reverse mortgage protection for seniors, and protection for seniors from financial exploitation by undue influence.
In January 2015, Secretary Kramer was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to the position of Secretary of the Maryland Department of Aging.
