LIFE & TIMES of Dorothy Troutman


Dorothy Beavers Troutman of Upper Marlboro died on January 31 at the age of 101. Troutman was a civic activist best known in the horse community for her expertise in zoning laws for Prince George’s County and being funda- mental in the creation of the Prince George’s Equestrian Center. Troutman was also a founding member of the Mary- land Horse Council and served on the Maryland Horse Industry Board for several years. She was also instrumental in creating Rosaryville State Park. T e following interview with Troutman was fi rst published in the February 2020 edi- tion of T e Equiery and we are reprinting here to honor such an infl uential member of the Maryland horse community.


Dorothy Troutman: T e Lady of Upper Marlboro by Katherine O. Rizzo Imagine no Prince George’s Equestrian Cen-


ter. Imagine no Rosaryville State Park. Imag- ine driving down Rt. 301 and seeing industrial complexes packed on both sides of the highway. It is sad to think about so much open space of rural Maryland being paved over, but thank- fully there is Dorothy Troutman. A small woman in stature with a powerful


voice who singlehandedly drew communities together to preserve Upper Marlborough and keep it rural. Keep it green. Keep it for horses.


Welcome to Hollywood Born on May 15, 1922, in Strawberry Point,


IA, the young Dorothy Troutman was just as smart and quick witted as she is today at 97. After graduating high school as valedictorian, Dorothy went to secretarial school and then, with a family friend, headed west to California in search of a job in the early 1940s. Dorothy met her husband George Trout- man in Hollywood, CA, where she worked for Selznick International Pictures and he was an Army Air Corps bomber pilot. Both later be- came active lobbyists in Maryland. At the height of World War II, Hollywood was the place to be according to Dorothy. “We lived in Sierra Madre while looking for work and then had an apartment right on Holly- wood Boulevard,” she reminisced. “We had one of those effi ciency apartments where the bed folded into the wall and a modest kitchen, but the location was fabulous!” Dorothy landed a job at the famed Sel-


znick International Pictures studios where she worked in the contracts department. “At a time of triplicates and carbon copies, the heads of the studio were impressed with how quick my mom was in dictation,” Dorothy’s son Glenn stated. “She told us that she never made mis- takes and during the interview, fi nished the as- signment so quickly she was hired right away.” Selznick Pictures produced Academy Award winners Gone with the Wind and Rebecca. “I worked with the actors’ contracts and met some pretty famous people while there,” Dorothy remembered. She met more than just famous actors while in California, however. While waiting for the streetcar one after- noon, a young Army Air Corps bomber pilot


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began chatting with her. “T ere were a lot of men from all branches of the armed forces that would ship in and out from there at the time,” she explained, adding with a smile, “I had so many dates in those days!” T is particular young solider ended up being “the one” and in 1946 after the war had ended, she and George Troutman were married.


Glennwood Farm T e post WWII years for the young couple


was full of typical Army travel as George was stationed at various locations around the coun- try. His family was from Atlanta, GA, where the family law fi rm of Troutman Sanders LLP was headquartered. But as George started thinking of retirement, he moved into the lob- bying fi eld and worked primarily at the Penta- gon where he was a lobbyist for the Air Force and later the aerospace industry. With Andrews Air Force Base so close to


the Pentagon, the Troutmans decided to settle in Maryland. “Our fi rst place was a little ways from here,” Dorothy said while sitting at her kitchen table at Glennwood Farm in Upper Marlboro. “It was my daughters who really loved horses, so we started this farm for them.” T e Troutmans established Glennwood Farm in 1971, as a place to raise a family and have horses for their daughters Sandra and Diane. As their interest in horses grew, so did the farm and Dorothy’s involvement with the com- munity. Glennwood Farm became a boarding facility; Sandra and her husband trained race- horses from there; and Dorothy’s grandchil- dren joined Marlborough Pony Club and the farm hosted many practices.


Preserving a Way of Life Urban and industrial sprawl threatened the


rural way of life in Upper Marlborough and Dorothy was quick to act. She coined the phrase “Keep Marlboro Country” and had bumper stickers made to hand out to community mem- bers and politicians. She began a campaign to change the county zoning laws in order to pre- serve open space and the traditions of farm life. “Dorothy is a truly remarkable individual,”


said Jim Estepp, 9th District County Coun- cil member from 1995 to 2002. “When I fi rst


started to run for offi ce, she was the person ev- eryone said I needed to meet. She’s very infl u- ential in the community.” Estepp said that preservation in general,


not just for horse people, is very important to Dorothy. “She looked at the quality of growth within diff erent projects and would support development as long as the quality was there.” Dorothy explained that she did not oppose


development as a whole, “it is the type of de- velopment that is important. We need larger housing parcels and not tons of buildings.” Estepp added, “she was able to get high end homes on larger pieces of land in a subdivision along Rt. 301 that also included horse trails. T at’s how good she is at preservation.” Estepp credits Dorothy with preserving the


historic Croom area as well. “Croom lies along the path that the British took on their way to D.C. during the War of 1812,” Estepp ex- plained. “While the tobacco farms in that area were being phased out, Dorothy was able to get many of them turned into equestrian farms in- stead of housing developments.” As a thank you to Dorothy, the water tower at the PGEC was painted with horses from her Glennwood Farm.


Prince George’s Equestrian Center Before the Show Place Arena even existed, the


location was used as a training facility for race- horses. “My husband and I would use the track to train on occasion and the county wanted to tear it up and put in a community center,” San- dra said. Dorothy did not oppose the commu- nity center; but she was able to get it moved so that a full equestrian competition and training center could be built on the grounds instead. Estepp calls Dorothy, “the visionary behind


the Prince George’s Equestrian Center” and many agree with his statement. “Dorothy made sure horses were still welcomed there,” said Rob Burk, CEO of US Eventing Association. Burk worked with Dorothy for eight years in his former position as Executive Director of the Maryland Horse Industry Board. “It was my mom’s idea to get that all started,” Glenn said. “She basically did all the fundrais-


continued ... THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | MARCH 2024 | 45


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