Suwanee Wharton

Suwanee Wharton, 73, of Owings Mills, Maryland, passed away on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in the BridgingLife hospice at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, Maryland. Born June 21, 1950, in Nang Rong district, Buriram province, Thailand, Suwanee was the daughter of Boonchai Kanjana-Akaradej and Samniang Kanjana-Akaradej, née Sae-Jeung. She was the beloved wife of over 46 years to Christopher John Wharton of Owings Mills.

In Thailand, after graduating from Thailand's fine arts university, Suwanee taught high school English and French in the same school as her future husband, who was then there teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer. They married at her Buriram home in 1977 and after Thailand lived in California, Malaysia, and the Philippines while Chris worked in international resettlement programs for refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Later in the United States, Suwanee worked as an administrative assistant at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore. She enjoyed gardening and flowers and flowering trees; watching birds at her bird feeder; taking pictures; cooking and eating Thai food; socializing with her work colleagues and other friends; keeping up with friends and family in the United States, United Kingdom, and Thailand via phone or the Line social media platform; and traveling back to Thailand to see her family and friends there.

In addition to her husband, Suwanee is survived by sons Benjamin David Wharton of Philadelphia and Jessada Frank Wharton of Baltimore; Benjamin's wife Cheng To and daughters Hilda Joy Wharton, age 7, and Oona Simone Wharton, age 5; sister-in-law Marianne Wharton of Oxford, Mississippi; and three brothers, two sisters, and numerous extended family relatives in Thailand.

A memorial gathering will be held Friday, May 10, from 3 to 5 pm at the Eckhardt Funeral Chapel, 11605 Reisterstown Road, Owings Mills, Maryland 21117. A private "tam boon" (merit-making) ceremony for Suwanee at the Wat Tummaprateip Thai and Buddhist temple in Accokeek, Maryland, is planned but not yet scheduled.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the John Fetting Fund for Breast Cancer Prevention via the " Kimmel - The John Fetting Fund for Breast Cancer Prevention | Johns Hopkins Secure eCommerce (jhu.edu) " website and/or the Wat Tummaprateip Thai and Buddhist Temple, 36 Farmington Road W, Accokeek, Maryland 20607 via the " wattummaprateip.org " website or via check payable to "Wat Tummaprateip" and mailed to the Accokeek address.