SPANISH LAKE • Maureen Williams has been waging a campaign against roadside clutter for more than two decades.

Armed with a plastic bag and a keen eye, she has scooped up trash along roads and parking lots in Baden and more recently in the Spanish Lake area. Last week, she was rewarded for her volunteer efforts with a road sign with her name on it.

While watering the neatly manicured lawn at Cigno Dental Care, Williams made clear she didn't go looking for any fanfare.

"I don't expect anything," said Williams, 69. "Sometimes I think the mailman, and the fireman and the policeman deserve it more than me. Because they do it every day. ... The mail people never get awards."

On Friday, she received a "Way to Go Green" award from St. Louis County.

Sheryl Hodges, the county's director of highways, traffic and public works, said Williams' efforts have included pulling weeds and sprucing up "just to make our neighborhoods more beautiful."

But that's only half the story.

Williams, a self-described animal lover, also walks her neighbor's Shih Tzu, Biscuit, each day. She bakes about five cakes a week and delivers them in person to people she meets in her travels. Firefighters. Letter

carriers. The manager at the tattoo shop.

Sometimes she bakes pies or brownies.

On weekends, she keeps a watchful eye on businesses in the neighborhood. Her vigilance paid off when she noticed a broken window at a Bellefontaine Road business and reported it to the building's owner. She also makes sure gates are closed.

"I want to get involved where I live," she said.

Dr. Sam Cigno said Williams showed up as a patient at his dental office about five or six years ago.

"We all immediately fell in love with her, except that every time she would come in she'd bring us a cake," said Cigno, whose office nominated Williams for the award. "It got to the point where I had to say, ‘Maureen, you can't come in if you bring us a cake anymore.'"

At Cigno, Williams pulls weeds and waters the lawn. The office pays her but the money goes toward her dental care, Williams said.

Neighbor Nancy Robinson said Williams picked up trash and turned down rides even when the heat index topped 100 degrees this summer.

"I said, ‘Maureen, let me take you home,'" Robinson said.

"Oh, no," Williams replied and kept picking up trash.

Williams has lived in the area for four years. Each day, she gets up at 7:30 a.m., walks the dog at 8 and then makes her way to the dental office. She grabs a cup of coffee across the street at Commerce Bank.

Williams, the divorced mother of a grown daughter, lives nearby with her two birds. Rather than sit in the house "feeling sorry for myself," she sets out each day and considers herself lucky to be so active at her age.

Williams, who grew up in the city of St. Louis, credits her parents for first impressing the importance of respecting others. Helping others, she said, is satisfaction enough.

Nonetheless, Hodges said, the county will post an adopt-a-roadside sign along Bellefontaine Road. Usually reserved for groups that perform volunteer litter pickup, this one has just one name on it: Maureen Williams.