Alfred Woodman Rollins

The Rev. Alfred Woodman Rollins of Alexandria, Virginia, passed away peacefully in his home on December 31, 2013, at the age of 87. Al was born on July 23, 1926, in Houston, Texas, to James Alpheus and Jane Bein (Cushman) Rollins. Al enjoyed telling stories about his childhood in Houston, when his mother called him "Precious" and he rode a big white horse named Storm King to school. He was an excellent student who skipped grades and left school early to join the war effort.

On December 13, 1943, at the age of 17, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he was assigned to the 5th Marine Division, a division that had been created to invade Japan. He spent many months in training for this duty and was eventually sent to Iwo Jima where he was in fierce combat from February 19 to March 7, 1945, during which he was wounded. He recovered from his wounds and from September 22, 1945 to March 17, 1946, he was stationed in occupied Japan where his unit confiscated weapons in the countryside. Later in life, he wrote that he was grateful for his occupation duty, and the friendships he developed with Japanese people; this experience changed his life and allowed him to close his war with the people of Japan.

After an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps, he went to school on the G.I Bill earning a B.S. and M.S. in Exploration Geology from the University of Texas, Austin. Al worked for the Shell Oil Company for about ten years until he made the life-changing decision to become an Episcopal priest. This decision was surely influenced by his experiences during the war, and his friendship and respect for Father John Hines, who he first met as a teenager at his family church. Father Hines, whom Al considered a mentor, would go on become the 22nd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1965-1974.

Al attended the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, and was ordained on June 12, 1963, by Bishop Hines at Church of the Ascension, Houston, Texas, the parish where Al served until 1966. At the invitation of Bishop Hines, Al accepted a position with the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church in New York, where he worked from 1966 to 1976. During this time, the church had an "activist approach to social issues, as Hines supported greater minority involvement in church councils and the ordination of women" (http://www.episcopalarchives.org). At the Executive Council, Al worked closely with Carmen St. John Hunter (deceased), the well-known Episcopal educator, a woman he greatly admired and considered a mentor. They were both involved with developing leadership training models for the church which were highly participatory and empowering, and in 1970, he edited Human Relations Training, which included these approaches.

In 1972, Al made headlines in the Episcopal News Service for saving the life of the Bishop of Haiti, Luc Garnier. Al was in Haiti on work related business when the two men were in a car accident during a flood. Al pulled the bishop from the wreckage and dragged him to high ground where Al then nursed the badly injured bishop through the night and into the next day until they were found.

In 1976, Al’s life took another dramatic change when he divorced his first wife, Ann Woods Rollins, with whom he had seven children. In 1977, Al moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, and married Dolores “Dee” Hahn on May 15, 1977, in a service officiated by the Rev. Tanya Vonnegut, the second woman to be ordained in the Episcopal Church. Al became a loving father and friend to Dee’s twelve-year-old daughter from her first marriage, Stacey L. Hann.

In 1980, Al, Dee and Stacey moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he took a position as Director of Mid-Atlantic Training & Consulting, Inc., a now-defunct Washington, D.C. firm. From 1980-1987, Al worked at MATC coordinating training of trainers seminars in leadership development and organizational development. After MATC, and into the early 1990s, he worked as a private consultant for various agencies, including U.S. Agency for International Development and the Overseas Development Office of the Episcopal Church. For the Overseas Development Office he was a lead consultant on leadership training for participatory community development programs within the Anglican/Episcopal Dioceses of Haiti, Madagascar, and Kenya, among others. Al loved traveling and reveled in work that allowed him to meet and work with people from all over the world. It was during this time that he authored Gender Considerations in Development (1989), a model that was used by the USAID, among others, to further its efforts to fully integrate women into their strategies, programs, and projects.

Throughout their life together, Al and Dee created a welcoming home full of love and laughter where their "family of choice," gathered to eat, talk, and celebrate life. Among those that Al and Dee welcomed into their “family of choice,” were their daughter Stacey and her husband Joe Ruff; a young Kenyan student Njoki Njehu and her husband Soren Ambrose, Jan Hoffman, Lois Dozier, and Verna Dozier, the noted biblical theologian. Al and Dee were the Dozier sisters’ primary caregivers for the last decades of their lives.

Al was a great listener and always posed interesting questions that caused one to rethink life. He was an affectionate man and was completely devoted to Dee, whom he wrote was “the most important person in his life.” Al loved to sail, walk on the beach, dance, eat blue crabs, read, and listen to the music of Dave Brubeck. He made a delicious rum cake! Al was a long-standing member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capital Hill, where he also served as adjunct clergy later in life.

Al is preceded in death by his wife, Dolores “Dee” Hahn-Rollins; his parents, James and Jane Rollins; his brother, James Alpheus Rollins, Jr., who died in infancy; his sister, Beverly Rollins Hargis; and his beloved nephew, Mark Hargis.

He is survived by his step-daughter, Stacey L. Hann-Ruff, son-in-law, Joseph C. Ruff, and grand-daughter, Adaline L. Ruff of Port Republic, Maryland; his adopted daughter Njoki Njoroge Njehu and her husband Soren Ambrose of Nairobi, Kenya; his adopted daughter Gina K. Hann Barnes and her husband Paul Barnes of Decatur, Indiana; his beloved sister Yvonne Rollins Finley of Granbury, Texas; his niece Jane Rollins Hargis of Wimberley, Texas; his children from his first marriage, Trish Rollins, Beth Payne, James Rollins, Jan Archer, Pamela Rollins, Deborah Kuntz, and Mary Amber; his god-daughter Victoria Pettit of Alexandria, Virginia; and many friends around the world.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Noon on Saturday, January 11, 2014, at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 3rd & A Streets, SE, Washington, DC. Memorial contributions can be made to the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Dozier Educational Fund (Washington, DC).