(Enlarge) John Roth displays the Cap Smith Memorial Trophy he received from the Halethorpe Improvement Association during the group’s Nov. 17 meeting. The award, named in honor of Halethorpe native Ralph “Cap” Smith, had been presented annually since 1969 by the Kiwanis Club of Halethorpe until the club disbanded. Roth is the first to receive the award since 1991. (Photo by Kevin Rector)

His memories of the town date back to when trolley cars clattered down Oregon Avenue and his family kept a horse and a goat at their Magnolia Avenue home, he said.

He remembers eating "a lot of Halethorpe squirrel and rabbit pot pie" during the Great Depression.

He said he can recall listening to his grandfather -- John Frederick Roth, who was born in 1850 and lived on Magnolia Avenue until he was 94 years old -- tell stories about the area before the town existed.

Roth, now 80 and a resident of Wynnewood with his wife Lucille, has a love for the area that is deeply ingrained in him, he said.

It's the reason he is so involved in community organizations in his retirement, he said.

It's also one of the reasons why he was chosen by the Halethorpe Improvement Association as the first person to receive the Cap Smith Memorial Trophy since 1991.

The presentation was made during the association's meeting Nov. 17.

The award was brought out of storage by the association as a way to honor "an outstanding citizen whose efforts are recognized as positive contributions to the quality-of-life in the community and surrounding region," according to an award program handed out at the meeting.

The award is named after Ralph "Cap" Smith, an influential Halethorpe native and former Arbutus businessman known for his involvement in the area who went on to become a magistrate in Elkridge before his death in 1968.

The award was first given by the Kiwanis Club of Halethorpe in 1969.

The club, which existed between the 1940s and 1990s, went on to give the award to an individual or group almost every year until 1991, when Clem Kaikis of Paul's Restaurant on Oregon Avenue won the award.

After the Kiwanis Club forfeited its charter not long after, the award was forgotten until this year, when Kaikis urged the local improvement association to award it once more.

"It's been dormant for so many years," Kaikis said. "I said, 'We've got to get this thing out and award it to a citizen who deserves it.' "

During last week's meeting, Roth was recognized with a large trophy for his decades-long involvement with the improvement association and with the Wilkens Police Community Relations Organization, of which he is treasurer.

The award program called Roth "a tireless advocate for the local neighborhood."

Along with the trophy, Roth received official citations and praise from Don Mohler, on behalf of County Executive Jim Smith; County Councilman Sam Moxley; and state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer and Dels. Steven DeBoy and James Malone of District 12A, which includes the Halethorpe and Arbutus area.

"This is very humbling," said Roth as he received the honors, which all came as a surprise. "I'm just grateful I'm healthy enough and able to participate in some of these organizations."

Roth said he knew Cap Smith as a friend of his parents, Stanley and Valetta Roth, back when "everybody knew everybody," and was happy to receive an award in his name.

"He was an electrician, a nice guy," Roth said of Smith.

After the award, the meeting, which was attended by almost 60 people, moved on to other business under new president Michael McAuliffe.

Among the issues discussed were the "graffiti-style art" on the side of Sports Cuts barbershop on East Drive and a new "underwear display" outside the Southwest Video Store on Southwestern Boulevard -- both of which association members said they'd like to see gone.

The association passed unanimous motions to seek ways to help replace Sports Cuts' current art with something more appealing to their tastes and to revisit efforts to force the adult video store out of town through the use of zoning laws.

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