Ronald Allen Rollins, Sr.

Dr. Ronald Allen Rollins, Sr., 79, died Friday, February 21, 2014, at the Cleveland Clinic, after an eight month struggle with leukemia. He was a resident of Oberlin, OH since 1970 and enjoyed a long practice as an obstetrician/gynecologist at the Oberlin Clinic and Allen Memorial Hospital. He was proud to have cared for thousands of patients, and to have brought many babies safely into the world. Dr. Rollins was born July 13, 1934, in Montgomery, WV son of the late Leonard and Belva (Raynes) Rollins. He attended Collins High School in Oak Hill and Davis & Elkins College in Elkins – the first member of his family to complete higher education. He attended the Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and was a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1960 to 1970. He was a longtime member of First Church in Oberlin, where he held numerous lay leadership positions and oversaw groundskeeping. He was a member of the board of trustees of Davis & Elkins, where he helped establish an endowed professorial chair in honor of a beloved teacher and led other development efforts. He was a busy volunteer and board member, along with his wife, Barbara, at the Firelands Association for the Visual Arts (FAVA) in Oberlin. He served on the Kendal at Oberlin Senior Independence Board. He and Barbara were selected as Oberlin’s Citizens of the Year in 2012 by the Oberlin News-Tribune. His interests and hobbies included gardening and landscaping; American history, especially that of the Civil War and the Lincoln presidency; reading; travel; and attending watercolor painting classes and workshops with Barbara. He is survived by Barbara, to whom he was married for 55 year; his sister, Brenda Wagner and her husband, David; children and spouses, Melanie Hart (nee Schwinn) and John, Ronald, Jr. and Amy, Amber Bock and Neil, Heather Laughman and Steve, and Brett Rollins and Robin Phillips; 11 grandchildren; a nephew and one great-grandchild. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, March 29, 2014, at First Church in Oberlin, OH. Memorial donations may be made to FAVA or First Church. Online condolences may be sent at www.tyreefuneralhome.com Information submitted by Tyree Funeral Home, Oak Hill, WV