Sherwood Forest

County Executive Robert R. Neall has announced the county winners ofthe fourth annual "Maryland You Are Beautiful" Senior Citizen Creative Writing Contest, sponsored by the Office of the Governor and the Maryland Office on Aging. A grand-prize winner will be selected from the first-place winners of each county contest. This year's topic is "Maryland Through Your Eyes."The county's first-place winner is Ross Coggins, a foreign service officer with the Agency for International Development. A resident of Sherwood Forest, he is married and has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Dorothy R. "Dot" Lamborn, an educator who assisted her husband during his tenure as headmaster at McDonogh School, died of complications from a fall Sept. 20 at Bassett Healthcare, a Cooperstown, N.Y., hospital. The Potomac resident was 95. The daughter of a lawyer and a homemaker, Dorothy Rundle was born and raised in Pittsburgh. She was a 1934 graduate of Edgewood High School. Because her family owned a summer home at Sherwood Forest in Anne Arundel County, she enrolled at Goucher College, and then transferred to Stanford University, where she earned a degree in mathematics in 1938.

Over the past 10 years, Rusty Barth's backyard has become a haven for a small band of merry men and women.Except for the brick rancher, Barth's wooded Benson hideaway could be a slice of Sherwood Forest. Looking out behind the house, there's nothing but woods and greenery and the scampering woodland animals. Just over the hill is a small archery target range.Barth spends a lot of summer evenings out there perfecting his shots and advising others how to perfect theirs.The 52-year-old archery guru has instructed archers from 3 1/2 to 73 years old.Archers from as far away as the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina flock to Barth's place for pointers.

Janet L. Gildea, a homemaker and volunteer, died Aug. 8 of a stroke at her Sherwood Forest home. She was 71. Born Janet Washington Lee in Washington, she was a direct descendant of John Augustine Washington, George Washington's brother, and Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Raised in Kenwood, Montgomery County, she was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1957. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was a volunteer at the Towson branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.

Eighty years ago, Baltimore investor William F. Cochran designed a summer resort on the banks of the Severn River and called it Sherwood Forest.Today, a more appropriate name for the 450-acre wooded community might be Shangri-la.Like the fabled Tibetan paradise, Sherwood Forest is secluded, offers a life of pleasures, and enforces a rigid set of rules designed to protect the community's standard of living.Most of the houses must be painted dark green; cats are forbidden and dogs must be housed in kennels during the summer months; for sale signs are prohibited and the sound of hammer and saw must not be heard between June 22 and Labor Day.Sherwood Forest is not for everyone, but the 341 families who live in the cottage-like homes like it that way.Residents have their own marina, a nine-hole golf course, tennis courts, a community hall with bowling alleys, a community store and post office, a full-day summer program for the kids, and regular community dances.

Janet L. Gildea, a homemaker and volunteer, died Aug. 8 of a stroke at her Sherwood Forest home. She was 71. Born Janet Washington Lee in Washington, she was a direct descendant of John Augustine Washington, George Washington's brother, and Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Raised in Kenwood, Montgomery County, she was a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1957. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was a volunteer at the Towson branch of the Baltimore County Public Library.

On the southern banks of Round Bay on the Severn River, just a few miles northwest of downtown Annapolis, lies the deeply wooded community of Sherwood Forest. Named for the woodland home of Robin Hood and his merry men, the rambling gated community has provided a pristine playground for generations of youthful explorers whose parents live in the "forest," as residents call it. They also learn to swim and sail and become naturalists as they explore native flora and fauna just outside their front doors.

Just the name of the neighborhood may conjure up the image of merry men on a deer hunt, with the local sheriff none too pleased.But in Anne Arundel County's Sherwood Forest -- a well-to-do waterfront community -- state officials want a select group of hunters to take on a burgeoning deer population that is devouring shrubs and plants and posing a threat of disease.The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced plans yesterday for a managed hunt in the 600 acres of woods surrounding the community of 341 homes north of Annapolis.

The hunt will go on in Sherwood Forest today as scheduled, club manager Bart Key said yesterday.A managed deer hunt in the private community just north of Annapolis was threatened this week by word that a resident planned to seek a court injunction against the four-day event, which is scheduled to begin this morning.After a day of talking with the resident's attorney, Key said the lawyer would "mediate" concerns with her client and would not take any further action. Annapolis attorney Eileen Powers confirmed that she had not filed for the injunction but refused to comment further.

Sherwood Forest, the Virginia plantation that once belonged to President John Tyler, is owned by his grandson and wife. It is an unusual place. As visitors walk to the house from the parking lot, along a short path through a wooded area, they must first pass a leaf-littered pet cemetery. Two more or less equal rows of little wooden crosses inscribed with names like Wink, Changa, KitKat and Beau mark small graves, some of which possess the added embellishment of concrete lawn ornaments -- a sleeping kitten here, a duck there, a dog holding a basket in his mouth at the end of one row. At the small memorial garden for beloved animals, members of the public turn right and continue along the path through a wide expanse of lawn shaded with large trees.

On March 12, 2007, ALEXANDER KIRKLAND, beloved husband of Cary Lee (nee Keen) Barton, devoted father of Michael C. Barton of Redwood, CA, Margaret B. West of Crozet, VA, Ford C. Barton of Charlotte, NC, Carville B. Collins of Baltimore and the late Alexander Kirkland Barton, grandfather of Andrew B. West, Benjamin B. West, Stacey C. Collins, Matthew K. Collins, Michael B. Collins, Blaire E. Barton and Katie A. Barton and brother of Robert C. Love of...

Tree-planting project honors military There were no flags. No military bands. No speeches by politicians. Instead, there were 500 pitch pine saplings, dozens of shovels and a single uniformed Boy Scout hollering out orders. Over the whine of a chain saw, dozens of muddy children, parents and grandparents splashed through a swampy forest near Annapolis yesterday to commemorate Veterans Day by planting a living shrine to the men and women who have served in the nation's wars. At 11 seconds past 11:11 a.m. -- the time commemorating the official end of fighting in World War I on Nov. 11, 1918 -- the planting ceased and the group of about 80 gathered by the stream for a moment of silence.

Dorothy C. Johnson, a homemaker and volunteer, died of respiratory failure March 8 at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. The former Sherwood Forest resident was 97. She was born Dorothy Marie Chambers and raised in Baltimore. She was a 1924 graduate of Western High School and studied medical laboratory technology at what is now Mercy Medical Center. She was working as a laboratory technician at St. Agnes Hospital when she met Dr. Eliot W. Johnson. The couple were married in 1931.

Elizabeth D. Hook, a homemaker and club member, died of cancer Sunday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Homeland resident was 85. She was born Elizabeth Doris Whitaker in Perryville. In 1924, her family moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she lived until returning to Baltimore and graduating from Notre Dame Preparatory School in 1938. She earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in 1942. In 1943, she married Richard Edwin Hook III, now a retired real estate broker.

On February 12, 2006, ELIZABETH DORIS (nee Whitaker) HOOK; loving wife of Richard E. Hook; devoted mother of Judy Smith and her husband Pete, Rick Hook and his wife Taber, Bruce Hook and his wife Jonell and Neville Gardner and her husband Russ, Bill Hook and his wife Wendy; dear sister of Pat Waters and John Whitaker. Also survived by seventeen grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren. A Vigil service will be held at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Rd, Beltway exit 26A, on Wednesday at 7:30 P.M. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Thursday at 11 A.M. Interment Druid Ridge Cemetery.

Joseph Brendan Herron, a retired insurance executive who enjoyed working with youths, died of an autoimmune disorder Friday at Charlestown Retirement Community. The former Timonium resident was 74. Mr. Herron was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and his family moved to Irvington in 1939. He was a 1948 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business from Loyola College in 1952. He served in the Marine Corps before taking sales positions with Johnson & Johnson and Sunbeam Corp.

On April 28, 2003; GILBERTE F. "BETTY" WITHERSPOON; beloved wife of Gordon H. Witherspoon; loving mother of Renee Witherspoon Latimer, and Gordon H. Witherspoon, Jr. Also survived by five grandchildren. Memorial Service will be held Saturday, May 3 at 10:30 AM at Sherwood Forest Stewart Hall, Sherwood Forest, MD.

On November 28, 2003 ROBERT LEE LANPHEAR beloved husband of Joan Lanphear of Sherwood Forest, MD; loving father of Tom Lanphear of Hampstead, MD, John Lanphear of Philadelphia, PA, Ann Lanphear of College Park, MD and Jill Lanphear of Ashburn, VA; devoted brother of James Lanphear of Spokane, WA and Ruth Ludwig of Arlington, VA; grandfather of Mathew, Kristen, Owen, and Mia Lanphear. Memorial services will be held on Sunday, December 7, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sherwood Forest Clubhouse, Sherwood Forest, MD. Memorial contributions may be made to Habitat for Humanity, 1625 N. Old Dixie Hwy., Jupiter, FL 33469.