Kathy Szeliga grew up in a military family with a career Army father. Her family moved about every two years, but Baltimore was always home base — where generations of her mother’s family have lived and where her Maryland roots run deep.

She met her husband, Mark, in Ocean City, and they eloped in Colorado more than 46 years ago. In the early years Kathy worked a string of jobs to make ends meet — dishwasher, parking lot attendant, maid, drywall worker, waitress — while Mark learned the carpentry trade. In 1986 they moved back to Maryland, took a leap of faith, and started their own small construction business.