A celebration of community service

HARMONY – Nearly 100 family members, friends, and local officials showed up on a sunny and warm Saturday morning, Sept. 20, 2025, at Harmony Community Park to memorialize the public service of Caroline County residents Roger Layton and Sarah Mueller.

The ball field is now named the Roger Layton Memorial Field for the late Roger Lee Layton, a longtime softball coach from Denton. “For his dedication to the youth of Caroline County,” the plaque states. “He reminds us to set your goals, work hard, overcome obstacles, learn from failures and eliminate excuses.”

In a moving tribute to her father’s legacy, Jackie Crawford of Preston, speaking on behalf of her mother Faye Layton and extended family, said Layton “was known for his competitive spirit, but above all, for his determination to make life better and safer for the community.”

A monument also was unveiled to honor the “selfless devotion” of the late Sarah Harding Mueller of Harmony, a Character Counts coach at Preston Elementary School.

All three Caroline County Commissioners attended the dedication, as well as Sheriff Donnie Baker, Recreation and Parks Director Jamie Beechey and Stacy Seward, grants coordinator for the Office of Finance.

Seward was a softball player during Layton’s 30-year coaching career. “He was the true backbone to girls softball, not only in Caroline County but the entire Eastern Shore,” she said.

“He created lasting memories for so many young athletes,” Seward said. “For example, teaching us how to slide in the playground sand at Denton Elementary School, saying, ‘If I can get my old body down here, you girls can too.”

She recalled Layton “sitting on a bucket catching hundreds of thousands of pitches from so many young softball players. We might have hit him in the shins a time or two, but he just kept on catching for us.”

Layton and Joe Little, who attended the dedication, were “instrumental in starting the first-ever girls travel softball team here in Caroline County,” Seward said.

In his remarks, Commission Vice President Larry Porter called Layton a “true friend” who offered valuable advice. Layton served as County Commissioner from 2002 to 2010.

Baker said Layton, who was a Maryland State Trooper for 22 years, was a “very, very dear close friend.”

“When I was a baby cop, Roger was a trooper, and I learned a lot from Roger,” Baker said. As a political advisor for Baker’s campaign, “Roger was always a phone call away.”

Crawford said her father’s “real gift was his deep commitment to young people. He began coaching softball long before I was born and continued long after I left the field. He supported teens to complete Eagle Scout projects, and he became an official mentor to youth in our community. His generosity extended to quietly covering ticket costs for school events, giving rides to practices where he was not being the coach and welcoming families in need to our home.”

“For those who doubted themselves, he was the first to offer encouragement,” Crawford said. “He would take kids on fishing trips. He'd offer them kind words and a helping hand. Each act, whether grand or humble, was a seed of hope and resilience planted in our community.”

Crawford honored her mother Faye, who was “the strength and foundation of the life that they built together, a partnership worthy of admiration. This dedication is as much for her,” she said.

“As we honor his memory today, let's all resolve to carry his example forward,” Crawford said. “Practice kindness, set personal goals, lend a helping hand. Believe in yourself and others and in doing so, we not only preserve his legacy, we become living testaments to the values that he holds dear: perseverance, compassion and unwavering faith.”

“We were proud to call him our coach,” Seward said. “And we’re thrilled that this field is being dedicated in his honor. May it always serve as a reminder of the legacy he built, the lives he touched, and the countless memories that we’ll carry with us forever.”

“We are grateful for every practice, every pep talk, every moment he spent shaping us into not just better athletes, but better people,” Seward said.

Also attending the dedication were members of the Jensen family who are especially close to the Layton family, including Dr. Christian Jensen, Judge Karen Jensen and Judge Ellery Adams.

The Mueller family “donated a pretty sizable donation for the pavilion a few years ago,” County Commission President Travis Breeding said. “So we're dedicating that to her.”

“This is a very fitting memorial to her service to the county,” Breeding said. “She was a really, really good example for the community.”

Not only did the Mueller family donate the funds for the pavilion and playground, they gave the property to the county for the park. On the property there once stood the former school building built in the 1930s and later converted to a community center where members of the family spent countless hours volunteering and serving turkey and ham dinner fundraisers, said John Mueller, Sarah’s husband.

John Mueller praised his late wife’s spirit of volunteering. Besides her work with school children, she helped with Girl Scouts, the Humane Society, and other local causes. When George Jackson of American Corner was ill and not able to collect signatures for his famous scrolls for active armed forces members, Sarah took over and even collected signatures from well wishers for a scroll presented to Jackson by his fellow motorcycle club members.

Attending the dedication for her monument were her mother Jessie, John’s children and hers and their grandchildren.

The bricks that form the foundation of Sarah Mueller’s monument came from a Denton home built in 1820, which was later torn down. Years ago, Roger Layton had rented an apartment in that home.

“I love the connection between her, the bricks and Roger Layton,” Commissioner Frank Bartz said. “It just goes to show that our community is small, but in times of need, it doesn't matter your political beliefs … we all come together as a community, and that's what makes Caroline County special.”

“Caroline County is a county of volunteers,” Porter said. “Sarah was more than a neighbor. She was a friend, volunteer, a mother and a mentor who gave so much of herself to this community. … She poured her love into children and families. By placing her name here at Harmony Park, we make sure her kindness, her spirit and her legacy will always be a part of this place.”

Porter thanked Beechey and her staff for their behind-the-scenes work to make the ceremony possible. Beechey said she was impressed by the number of people who attended.

The county-owned park houses the 36-foot by 20-foot picnic pavilion with six tables, small playground, walking trail and softball field.