John F. Roth, 51, popular and capable sheriff of Carroll county, died Friday morning in St. Elizabeth hospital shortly after being admitted.  Sheriff Roth awakened about 4:30 Friday morning and complained of not feeling well.  Two local doctors were summoned and Mrs. Roth attempted vainly to give him a nitro-glycerin tablet.  The doctors worked with him at the jail residence for more than an hour before he was taken in an oxygen-equipped ambulance to the hospital.  He died shortly thereafter.
  Sheriff Roth had been at the Mayo clinic about a month ago for a checkup and had been troubled with a slight heart condition but his death came a profound shock to the entire county which had elected him to his second term as sheriff on the Democratic ticket in November.  Sheriff Roth was returned to office with one of the largest majorities ever given a public official on the county ticket.
  Thus, for the second time within recent years, a county sheriff has been fatally, stricken before his term of office expired.  Bert Cliffton, Democrat, died during his term of office and his wife, Inez Cliffton was named to complete his term.
  The sheriff had worked exceedingly hard in recent months.  First there was a wave of juvenile vandalism which took much of his time in the late fall.  Hardly had that been cleared up when another wave of vandalism of cottage and semi-permanent homes on Lake
Freeman and the Tippecanoe river had caused Sheriff Roth and his deputy many endless hours of day and night work.  He had assisted state police on Thursday with rounding up some local men who are alleged to be involved in a two-state soybean theft ring.  These, in addition to his many other duties as sheriff, had caused him to request the hiring a a second deputy sheriff.  Night patrols of the county are the sheriff's responsibility and it was impossible to continue those patrols without additional help.  John had not complained openly about this subject nor were most people aware that he had a slight heart condition which had been bothering him.
  Born in this community Oct. 7, 1911, the son of James and Pearl Dieter Roth, he was graduated from Delphi high school and was married Dec. 7, 1935 to Helen Smith of Rockfield.  For a number of years he operated the farm on which Ralph Sullivan now resides and farmed the Bradshaw farms, west of town.  Later he bought and operated what is now the Hyman Drive-In grocery and was a salesman for Ranger Products.  Always an active Democrat, he first sought the office of sheriff on the Democrat ticket in 1954 when Sparkey Carey was elected to his last full term.  He again ran on the Democratic ticket and was elected to the office of sheriff in 1958 and in 1962 was re-elected by more than a 2500 majority.
  Active in many organization, he was a member of the Delphi Christian church; IOOF Lodge No. 28, Tipwa Grange, Delphi Masonic and Scottish Rite order; Fraternal Order of Police, Police League of Indiana; the State and National Sheriff's Association.
  Surviving are his widow; two sons, Don and Dick, both of Delphi, a daughter, Mrs. Patricia Lohrman of Delphi; his mother, Mrs. James Roth of South Delphi; two sisters, Fern Hawkins of Delphi and Opal Hatke of Lafayette.
  Funeral rites were held Sunday afternoon from the Eikenberry chapel where hundred of friends and fellow-officers gathered to hear Rev. Frederic Chandler and Rev. Milton Mikesell pay a final tribute, Sheriffs and sheriffs deputies from 40 counties in Indiana; Indiana State Police and police from nearby cities were here for the rites and the funeral cortege..contained 15 sheriff department cars.  Burial was in Masonic cemetery.  So profuse were the floral offerings that the Roth family had them distributed to all local churches for the Sunday services and many were taken to the people who are confined to homes by illness.
 
Obituary notice taken from the Delphi Citizen, Thursday, January 17, 1963