Donna C. Box, a Carroll County public schools employee who was a watercolor artist, died Saturday of aplastic anemia at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Sykesville resident was 56.

The daughter of William H. Rowe Jr., a Westinghouse Electric Corp. mechanical engineer, and Gail Crawford Rowe, a homemaker, Donna Carol Rowe was born in Baltimore and moved in 1967 with her family to Columbia.

She was a 1978 graduate of Wilde Lake High School.

Ms. Box was a financial secretary at Westminster High School from 2006 to 2012, then left and joined the staff of Oklahoma Road Middle School in Sykesville in the same capacity. She continued there until her death.

Her husband of 33 years, Larry Box, is a supervisor of buildings for Carroll County's public schools.

“Donna was a joy and inspiration to all her knew her,” a sister, Denise Rowe of Sykesville, wrote in an email. “There was no project too daunting for Donna to tackle, ... no emotion or detail she was not able to capture in her art, and no end to what she would do to help others.”

An accomplished artist, Ms. Box worked in watercolors and enjoyed painting landscapes, portraits and still-life works. Her sister said one of her Sykesville-inspired railroad paintings would be displayed in a future local art show.

Ms. Box enjoyed nature, exercising, reading, puzzles and games. She was an avid runner and had participated in the Marine Corps Marathon.

She was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 7538 Main St., Sykesville, where a memorial service will be held at 4 p.m today.

In addition to her parents, who live in Marriottsville, her husband and her sister, she is survived by a daughter, Caitlin Box, a senior at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; two brothers, William H. Rowe III of Jacksonville, Fla., and Matthew Rowe of Columbia; another sister, Susan Dreisch of Catonsville; a stepson, Jason Eric Box of Columbia; and many nieces and nephews.

—?Frederick N. Rasmussen