RoxAnne Riddle Cumberland

RoxAnne Riddle Cumberland died peacefully on November 22, 2023 with her family beside her after a heroic battle with ovarian cancer.

She was born on July 5, 1953 in Gloucester, Massachusetts to Marvin and Nadine Riddle. When she was four years old, the family, including brothers Robert (Bobby) and William (Billy) and sister Terry, moved to Solomons, Maryland, where they were raised. She attended Our Lady Star of the Sea and graduated from Calvert High School. After graduation, she worked as an executive in an employment agency in Washington, D.C. Upon her marriage to Laurence (Larry) Cumberland, she moved back to Calvert County and retired from her first career.

RoxAnne then followed in her father’s footsteps in public service, serving as a member of the Calvert County Planning Commission for two terms and as President of the Board of Governors of the Calvert Marine Museum. She was also Director of Development for her husband’s law firm, Cumberland & Erly, LLC in Prince Frederick, Maryland. For years, she hosted the annual Calvert County Medical Society v. Calvert County Bar Association (known as Doctors v. Lawyers) softball tournament.

While her heart was always in Calvert County, RoxAnne loved to travel and focused on her three treasured places abroad: Paris, Provence, and Venice. She had a favorite place to stay in each. Eventually, she found her second heart with Larry in the Florida Keys and spent several months each year at their home there.

She loved being on or under the water and would, if she could, be out before sunrise and back after sunset. It did not matter if she was rock-fishing or cruising in the Chesapeake Bay, or fishing or SCUBA diving the coral reefs in the Keys. She was an expert fisherman. In her lifetime, RoxAnne tangled with the most fearsome of ocean dwellers, two Great White and one Mako shark, as well as a Marlin (which she landed) and countless Grouper. Her specialty, however, was Yellowtail Snapper: she would consistently catch more and bigger Yellowtail than anyone else in the boat. When she and Larry took their boat from Key West across the Gulf Stream and back for a stay in Havana, her only regret was that she did not get to stop and fish.

RoxAnne was especially beloved by family and friends for her self-taught blend of gourmet and home-style cooking. She specialized in her fresh-caught fish, oysters, crabs, pastas, ribs of all kinds, and after her visits to Europe, green salads and homemade vinaigrettes. She adored passing on her fish-scaling and cooking skills to her children and grandchildren.

Whenever RoxAnne traveled or whatever she did, her focus was first on her large family. She was its center. Tirelessly and lovingly, she cared for her parents through their elder years and then for her in-laws, John and Charlene Cumberland. Meanwhile, she helped her four children through high school, college and their graduate degrees. She loved doting on her grandchildren most of all, spoiling them as best she could.

RoxAnne was an extraordinary woman and a devoted daughter, wife, mother, and grandmother. She will also be remembered for being utterly fearless (despite small in stature), letting out only a small shriek when the Great White on her line came up at her out of the water. She even held on to the fishing rod.

RoxAnne is survived by her husband, Laurence W.B. Cumberland, Esquire; her brother, Hon. Robert B. Riddle; her nephews Lance Riddle and Michael Riddle; her niece Kaitlin Riddle, her daughter Cherrie Cumberland Webb, MS, CRNP (grandchildren Erin and Kate Webb); her son Joseph L. Cumberland, MBA (grandchild, Hammett Cumberland); and her daughters Sally Cumberland Brown, MMC, MBA (grandchildren Bruce and Blake Brown) and Emily C. Cumberland, Esquire.

Ceremonies in RoxAnne’s memory will be private. In lieu of flowers, the Cumberland family kindly requests donations in RoxAnne’s honor to the American Cancer Society or any foundation supporting ovarian cancer awareness and research.