KAY HALLE, WASHINGTON GRANDE DAME, DIES AT 93

Miss Halle, a native of Cleveland, was a child of privilege -- she inherited a department store fortune -- and extremely well connected. When she first visited Washington as a child, her guide was newspaper columnist Walter Lippmann, who arranged for her to see a fragment of the bullet that killed President Abraham Lincoln.

But if family friends gave her a start, the assets that made her welcome in the rarefied reaches of politics and the arts where she spent her life were her beauty, wit, charm and intelligence. She also had a brass-bound sense of being able to cope with just about anything. An example was a radio interview she had with Bob Feller when she knew so little about baseball that she was unable to recognize the great Cleveland Indians pitcher when he walked into the studio.

In the natural course of things, Miss Halle met Gershwin after a concert. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a family friend, invited the composer to accompany Miss Halle to a New Year's party at the White House. At the president's request, Gershwin played the piano.

It was through Gershwin that Miss Halle met Astaire and Waller and such musical luminaries as Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and Oscar Levant. She was present when Todd Duncan, the head of the voice department at Howard University, auditioned for the part of Porgy in "Porgy and Bess" and Gershwin gave it to him. Miss Halle and Duncan were friends for life.

But her abiding interest was Sir Winston Churchill, the British wartime leader. She first got to know the family when Randolph Churchill, Winston's son, stayed at her family's residence during a visit to Cleveland in 1931. The next year, when she was in England, she stayed at Chartwell, Churchill's country house. This began a friendship that lasted until his death in 1965.

Miss Halle published two books about Sir Winston, "Irrepressible Churchill, A Treasury of Winston Churchill's Wit" and "Churchill on America and Britain," a collection of his observations about the two countries. The introduction of the latter volume was written by Lady Churchill and the preface by W. Averell Harriman, the U.S. statesman.

Miss Halle devoted a corridor in her Georgetown house to Churchilliana, including three paintings by the artist John Churchill, a nephew of the statesman and a frequent house guest. She was fond of pointing out that Churchill's mother was American. Sir Winston was, Miss Halle said, "half American and all British."

In the 1950s, she took the lead in gaining honorary U.S. citizenship for Churchill, which Congress eventually conferred in 1963. President John F. Kennedy proclaimed the honor in a Rose Garden ceremony in which he paid tribute to Churchill's wartime eloquence. The president said Churchill had "mobilized the English language and sent it to war."

Miss Halle also had a hand in the placement of the Churchill statue in front of the British Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue NW. She convinced British and U.S. authorities that it should stand at the edge of the embassy grounds, with one foot on U.S. soil, the other on British territory.

In 1968, the British government conferred on her the rank of officer in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of her services on behalf of Anglo-American relations.

Katharine Murphy Halle was born in Cleveland on Oct. 13, 1903. Her parents were Samuel Horatio Halle and the former Blanche Murphy. The family owned the old Halle's department store, once Cleveland's largest. She attended Smith College and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

In the late 1930s, she was the intermission commentator for broadcasts of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Later, she had an interview program whose guests included the likes of Wendell Wilkie, the 1940 Republican presidential nominee.

During World War II, Miss Halle moved to Washington and worked with Gen. William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, the head of the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the CIA. After the war, she bought a house in Georgetown.

A Democrat, Miss Halle spoke out against Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, the Wisconsin Republican who led a witch hunt for communists in the early 1950s. In later years, she often lectured on the varying styles of the Eisenhower, Johnson and Kennedy administrations.

Publications to which she contributed articles and book reviews over the years included the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Reader's Digest, Look Magazine, the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor.

Although she lived in Washington for more than half a century, she never cut her ties to Cleveland. She was a member of the Cleveland Bicentennial Commission, as well as the Bicentennial Commission of Washington.

Miss Halle was chair of the garden committee of Blair House in Washington, a director of the Washington Performing Arts Society and a member of the English-speaking Union and the Woman's National Democratic Club.

Survivors include a sister, Ann Halle Little of Cleveland. FELIKS J. BRONIECKI VOA Official

Feliks J. Broniecki, 88, who retired in 1982 as chief of the Voice of America's Polish service, died Aug. 5 at Prince George's Hospital Center after a heart attack. He lived in Washington.

He came to Washington and joined the VOA's Polish service in 1964. He became the service's deputy chief in 1976 and its chief in 1980. In 1982, the Polish service was presented with the VOA's Superior Honor Award. At his retirement, Mr. Broniecki was presented with a special diploma for his VOA years.

As chief of the Polish service in 1981, he directed the service's coverage of the declaration of martial law in Poland -- when authorities tried to suppress the Solidarity labor and reform movement. The VOA tripled its daily broadcast time to Poland and sent a special correspondent to Europe to cover developments. Mr. Broniecki also led efforts to organize Sunday mass broadcasts to Poland from a Polish Catholic church in Washington.

Mr. Broniecki, a Warsaw native, received a university degree in Poland and later received an administrative law degree from Edinburgh University in Scotland. After the collapse of Polish resistance to German and Soviet invasions in 1939, he made his way to Britain. He fought with the Free Polish forces in the British Army in the ill-fated Norwegian campaign in 1940.

Later in the war, he became a broadcaster with Polish Radio in London. In 1945, he joined the British Broadcasting Corporation, where he worked until joining Radio Free Europe in Munich in 1953. About 1960, he came to this country and studied in California.

He leaves no immediate survivors. BENNIE ROSALER Army Warrant Officer

Bennie Rosaler, 80, a retired Army chief warrant officer who was an office administrator at the Yeonas Building in Vienna in the 1960s and 1970s, died of cardiac arrest Aug. 7 at his home in Springfield.

Mr. Rosaler, who had lived in Northern Virginia since 1958, served in the Army for 32 years before retiring from active duty in 1967.

He was born into an Army family at Fort Yellowstone, Wyo., and joined the Army himself in 1935. He was stationed in Washington during World War II and spent much of his career with the Quartermaster Corps. Assignments took him to Europe and Asia and to Fort Myer, where he served in the 3rd Infantry, the famed "Old Guard" regiment. He was stationed at Cameron Station when he retired.

Mr. Rosaler, a 1959 graduate of the University of Maryland, was active in church and volunteer groups. He served as president of the Protestant council of the Fort Myer Chapel, where he taught adult Bible classes. He was a volunteer driver with Meals on Wheels and also donated time to the American Diabetes Association and Asia Alive.

His wife of 56 years, Gertrude Rosaler, died in 1993.

Survivors include two daughters, Mary Boesman of Washington and Geri Thomson of Springfield; a brother, retired Air Force Col. Richard Rosaler of San Diego; five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. ROBERT WOOLFOLK BLACK Army Colonel

Robert Woolfolk Black, 70, an Army infantry colonel who retired in 1979 and then began a financial planning firm, Black Watch Financial Inc., died July 26 at Reston Hospital after a heart attack. He was stricken at the Sterling Golf and Tennis Center.

A resident of the Washington area off and on since the early 1960s, he lived in Potomac. Col. Black was born in Buffalo. He was a 1949 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and received a master's degree in engineering from the University of Southern California. He also attended the Army War College. He served in Korea during the Korean War and Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

He sang in the choir at National Presbyterian Church in Washington and was an instructor and participant in regional senior tennis competitions.

Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Ann Piggot Black of Potomac; two sisters, Nancy W. Black of Gibson Island and Carolyn B. Underwood of San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and a brother, Ira W. Black of Salado, Tex. ALBERT E. GREEN Government Attorney

Albert E. Green, 92, an Arlington resident who had been a government attorney for 31 years before retiring in 1973 as assistant chief counsel of the Coast Guard, died of kidney failure Aug. 9 at Vencor Hospital in Arlington.

Mr. Green, who came to the Washington area and began his government career in 1942, was born in Chicago and raised in Davenport, Iowa. He was a graduate of Augustana College in Illinois and a cum laude graduate of the University of Iowa law school.

Survivors include his wife, Margorie E., of Arlington; and two daughters. RUTH M. SUPPES Glass Expert

Ruth M. Suppes, 101, an authority and collector of artistic glass, died of a bile duct obstruction Aug. 10 at Manor Care Nursing Home in Bethesda.

Mrs. Suppes collected American and European antique and modern glass pieces, some of which dated as far back as 400 B.C., and had a library of 300 books on glass.

At her home in Chevy Chase she regularly gave lectures on artistic glass and also spoke to community and academic groups. Her collection included 3,000 glass pieces, including vases, goblets, drinking vessels, perfume bottles and beads.

She was born in Spokane, Wash., and graduated from the University of Washington. For nine years before her 1926 marriage to Raymond L. Suppes, she taught high school history in the state of Washington. In 1942, they settled in the Washington, D.C., area.

Mrs. Suppes was a member of Chevy Chase United Methodist Church.

Her husband died in 1975, and a daughter, Joan Louise Armstrong, died in 1976. Survivors include a daughter, Jane Gascoyne of Derwood; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. WILLIAM A. MURPHY Appliance Salesman

William A. Murphy, 78, an appliance salesman who retired from George's Radio & TV 13 years ago, died of lung cancer and diabetes Aug. 9 at Cameron Glen Care Center in Reston.

Mr. Murphy, who lived in McLean, was born in Boston. During World War II, he served in the Navy in the Atlantic and the Pacific.

In 1957, he moved to the Washington area from Boston. He was an appliance salesman for other businesses before joining George's Radio & TV, where he worked for 18 years.

He was a past exalted ruler of the Elks in Alexandria and a member of the American Legion in Falls Church and the Moose in Alexandria.

Survivors include his wife, Vivian B. Murphy of McLean; a son, Kevin A. Murphy of Portland, Ore.; and three grandchildren. LOUISE BRYANT BOO' WORKMAN Former D.C. Resident

Louise Bryant "Boo" Workman, 88, a former resident of Washington who did volunteer work with Catholic nuns' organizations, died of respiratory failure Aug. 9 at her home in Denton, Md.

Mrs. Workman was born in Newport News, Va., and moved to Washington as a young woman. In the late 1960s, she moved to Florida, returning to the Washington area to live in Edgewater about four years ago. She moved to Denton last year.

Her husband, Raymond "Sonny" Workman, died in the late 1960s.

Survivors include three children, Raymond R. Workman Jr. of Haines City, Fla., Jean Richards of Bethany Beach, Del., and Joan Maystrik of Durham, N.C.; a sister, Anne Headley of Edgewater; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. ANNIE L. LENIX Nurse

Annie L. Lenix, 75, a nurse who retired in 1978 after 31 years with Howard University Hospital, died of a heart attack Aug. 9 at Washington Hospital Center. She had lived in Washington for 50 years.

She was head obstetrics nurse when she retired.

Mrs. Lenix, a native of Bishopville, S.C., was an honors graduate of Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in Durham, N.C.

She was a member of First Baptist Church in Washington and Chi Eta Phi nursing sorority and a volunteer with its boarder baby program.

Her husband, Frank Lenix Sr., died in 1980.

Survivors include four children, Catherine J. Lenix-Hooker of Newark, Frank Lenix Jr. and Jerry Javann Lenix, both of Washington, and Recie Y. Reese of Forestville; two brothers; three sisters; two half sisters; and five grandchildren. J. LAWRENCE MANNING Businessman

J. Lawrence Manning, 91, who retired in 1969 after operating Manning's Sunoco station in Arlington for more than 35 years, died of congestive heart failure Aug. 8 at his Arlington home.

Mr. Manning also was part of a partnership that sold land for the River Oaks subdivision in Fairfax County. As a young man, he worked for Rosslyn Steel and Cement Co. He was born in Washington and raised in Arlington. He was a graduate of McKinley Technical High School and attended George Washington University.

Mr. Manning was a trustee of Arlington Hospital and a member of the boards of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Arlington YMCA, Veterans Memorial YMCA and the Salvation Army. He was president of the Arlington Visiting Nurses Association and the Arlington Kiwanis, which named him its Inter-Service Council Man of the Year in 1974. He was chairman of the trustees of Clarendon United Methodist Church and participated in the Arlington County oral history program.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Nan Owen Manning of Arlington; three children, John Lawrence Manning Jr. of Bethesda, Donald Owen Manning of Arlington and Nancy Manning Knight of Richmond; and five grandchildren. MARGARET W. TOMLINSON DAR Regent

Margaret W. Tomlinson, 81, former regent of the Washington chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a docent at the DAR Museum, died Aug. 8 at a nursing home in Atlanta. She had Alzheimer's disease.

Mrs. Tomlinson, who lived in Northern Virginia off and on from 1948 to 1991, was a native of Cleveland. After graduating from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, she taught junior high school history in Painesville, Ohio.

During World War II, she served with the American Red Cross in London and Paris. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta social sorority and Walker Chapel United Methodist Church in Arlington.

Her husband, George E. Tomlinson, died in 1986.

Survivors include two daughters, Marine Lott of Atlanta and Gail Tomlinson of Dallas; and five grandchildren. ADELE PRICE WELCH Teacher

Adele Price Welch, 94, a retired kindergarten teacher, died Aug. 9 at Manor Care Nursing Home in Chevy Chase after a stroke.

For 30 years, she taught kindergarten in Washington's public schools, mostly at Fillmore Elementary School. She retired about 1970.

Mrs. Welch was a lifelong Washingtonian and a graduate of National Cathedral School and George Washington University. She had done graduate study in English at Oxford University.

Her husband, William Welch, died about 1970.

She leaves no immediate survivors. GEORGE WALKER MARTHENS II Air Force Colonel

George Walker Marthens II, 84, a retired Air Force colonel who also operated a gas and oil exploration firm, died of cancer Aug. 7 at his home in Chevy Chase. He had lived in the Washington area off and on since the 1940s.

Col. Marthens retired in 1967 as an instructor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, after 30 years in the military. He taught computer, logistics and statistics courses. After he retired, he owned a firm that managed financial investments, conducted research and analysis in oil and gas and drilled in West Virginia.

He was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Arizona, where he was an honors graduate of the University of Arizona. He played baseball with a farm team of the Detroit Tigers before World War II. He later received a master's degree in business from Harvard University and attended the Armed Forces Staff College.

Col. Marthens served in the Army Air Forces in England during World War II and was later posted to Germany. He also was assigned to the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His military decorations included two Meritorious Service Medal awards and two Legion of Merit awards. He won military tennis championships, coached softball and rode horses.

Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Louise R. Marthens of Chevy Chase; four children, Louis R. Marthens of Gaithersburg, Carol A. Marthens of McKinney, Tex., George W. Marthens III of Centreville and Bradford G. Marthens of Block Island, R.I.; and two grandchildren. KATHERINE MARY JOHNSON Mother of Nine

Katherine Mary Johnson, 73, a native Washingtonian and mother of nine children, died of ovarian cancer Aug. 9 at Holy Cross Hospital.

Mrs. Johnson graduated from Eastern High School and worked as a private secretary when she was a young woman.

She lived in Wheaton and was a member of St. Andrew's Catholic Church.

Survivors include her husband of 49 years, Pete Joseph Johnson of Wheaton; nine children, Peter Johnson, Stephen Johnson and Mark Johnson, all of Wheaton, Michael Johnson of Gaithersburg, Montgomery County Police Sgt. Donald Johnson and Annette Bergmann, both of Olney, Edward Johnson of Bowie, Andrew Johnson of Manalapan, N.J., and Kathy Graninger of Columbia; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. CAPTION: KAY HALLE