Thursday February 19, 2009
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Dead at age 83
Raymond Charles Rolley
Born in Ohio on Jan. 6, 1926
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Dead at age 83
Raymond Charles Rolley
Born in Ohio on Jan. 6, 1926
and Departed on Feb. 6, 2009
resident of Clarksville, VA.
Mr. Raymond Charles Rolley, 83, husband of Marylou Myers Rolley, died Friday, February 06, 2009 at Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill. Native to Ohio, Ray was the son of Charles and Mary Elizabeth McFadden Rolley. He was a World War II Navy veteran. Ray obtained a Masters Degree in School Administration and was retired from Herndon High School where he was a teacher and coached the Varsity Basketball team for 29 years. Ray was a member of Jamieson Memorial United Methodist Church and the Clarksville Ruritan Club. In addition to his wife of 60 years, Ray is survived by his son, Robert Scott Rolley; 6 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
“One of the doleful matters in growing older
is having to watch your childhood heroes die” - LcS
Ray (& his wife, Marylou) Rolley are, definitely, heroes of my childhood.
They were the parents of one of my very close Grade School friends, Rocky. And for that, I was invited to have dinner at their Van Buren Street home in Herndon, Virginia on many occasions.
I remember on one such occasion, the Dinner fare was Pork Chops. There was a pile of them on a large plate in the center of the table but only one was placed on each of our individual plates. After I had eaten nearly all of my Pork Chop, I picked up the bone and began gnawing the peripherally hard to get at remaining pieces of meat. Mr. Rolley looked at me and in a very sympathetic tone told me not to worry about trying to get it all. He continued that I could have another Pork Chop. My reply was that at my house, the rule was, ‘if we paid for it – you must eat it” !
I pretended not to notice as he looked over at Rocky and laughingly whispered that Rocky was right, that Larry Spurlock was a funny little fellow.
But just as importantly, Marylou Rolley was my 3rd Grade Teacher. She was, still, quite young and talked with our class about her family’s home life and every day occurrences. She always referred to her husband simply as ‘Rolley’.
And since he taught High School courses right there on the entire School’s property, Mr. Rolley would, occasionally, walk into our classroom without warning. That was always fun because Mrs. Rolley would, immediately, stop whatever lesson we were working on and chat with her husband out loud so that the students could hear their remarks. And although it was never mentioned, I usually felt like I was watching a George Burns & Gracie Allen performance.
And so, I knew Ray Rolley for many years before he became one of my Intermediate School Teachers. I had him for Health & Phys. Ed..
I recall one afternoon in the old School’s back middle classroom (Mrs. Martz’ old Elementary classroom), it was a very warm afternoon and I nodded off to sleep at my desk. Mr. Rolley awoke me by coming to my desk and whispering in my ear to "wake up, Larry – there’s Pork Chops on the table."
I woke up and smiled. He had remembered .. and so had I.
Just a few years later, Mr. Rolley would become my JV Football Coach.
We only played 4 games that year but one of them was at Fauquier High School. I recall that it was cold up atop that mountain and our Jerseys were short sleeve. I complained about the cold and Mr. Rolley, jokingly, told me that I could sit on the Bus if I wanted. I knew he was kidding me and I didn’t say anymore about it.
There was a play in the 2nd Half where I was playing Defensive Halfback (what’s now known as Safety) and I intercepted a pass. As soon as I began to run with the ball, I was hit blindsided by a huge Falcons’ player and knocked silly. When I got to the sidelines, instead of going to the bench, I stumbled around where the Cheerleaders were. Mr. Rolley had to come get me and he knew I was groggy. He told one of our Trainers to take me back down to our Bus and let me lie down on the back seat. I did. I was okay after a little time had passed but soon the game ended and all the Players and Coaches were back on the Bus for the long ride home.
Mr. Rolley came back to where I was and asked if I was okay. I nodded my head that I was and he asked what I had been doing – eating Pork Chops ? He, still, remembered .. and so did I. LoL
Mr. Rolley was, of course, the Herndon High School’s Varsity Head Coach in Basketball, as well.
When I was not yet in High School, I used to sit at the games with Tommy James (HHS class of ’67). He and I would keep track of points scored by Carl Fox and Joey Hite.
Rocky told his Father about this and I was always allowed to check with the official scorekeeper after games to verify my validity.
On one such occasion after a Home game and with Mr. Rolley standing at the Official Scorer’s table – I announced that Joey Hite had scored a game high 29 points. I think Chip Jordan was the score keeper and in earshot of Mr. Rolley, Chip disagreed saying Joey had only 27 points. I remember seeing a disappointment in Mr. Rolley’s face concerning my faux pas but he did not say a word. I felt terrible fearing I had lost Mr. Rolley’s faith in me.
Regardless, the next school day, I was in the Cafeteria ready to eat my lunch when Mr. Rolley came by my table. He smiled and informed me that Chip had made a mistake in tallying up the Hornets’ final score at the last game. He was 2 points shy of the actuall total and Joey Hite was given 2 more points based on my calculations. He patted me on the back and said, “way to go, son” !
THAT was as good as it gets. To hear Mr. Rolley say those words was magical and I’ve never forgotten his smile that day.
* Note: Wouldn’t it have been perfect if the school lunch that day was Pork Chops ? But, it was not. It was Meat Loaf. But it was good !
After this had occured, Rocky expressed to me that the HHS School record for points scored by an individual in a game was 36 set by a Dentist in town by the name of Detweiler. He added that if the record was ever broken, that his Dad would take the player out of the game if Herndon was winning big.
And so it happened .. later that Season. Herndon was winning an Away game by a very wide margin and Carl Fox was scoring at will under the basket. With about a minute and a half to go in the game and the Hornets up by double digit points, the team called a timeout. I could not help myself .. I raced across the floor to the opposing scorer’s table and asked how many points Fox had. My total was 38 and that’s exactly the number the scorer had. When I hustled back to my seat, I ran by the Hornets' bench and blurted out that Fox had 38 points. During the next few seconds of play, Carl was fouled and sank both Free Throws giving him 40 points on the night and a new HHS record. Mr. Rolley took Fox out of the game and gave me a quick wink at my seat.
Good times. Good times.
Years after Ray & Marylou had retired and relocated to a southern section of Virginia – they returned to Herndon for a visit. I was in the Drug Fair at the Pines Shopping Center when they, both, entered.
I made it a point to engage them in some conversation about the old days. They seemed so happy and comfortable in their lives .. and why not. They had lived their lives as happily as anyone could hope for.
I hugged Marylou and shook Ray’s hand and told them how much they influenced my life. They were very apreciative .. and so am I.
May you R.I.P. Ray Rolley.
And God Bless you, Marylou .. and Scott.
LARRY..CURTIS..SPURLOCK
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