Ross Rollinson, 95 of Salem, died March 6, 2023, at his home surrounded by family and his loyal, loving, and wonderful caregivers.
He was born during the Great Depression on December 21, 1927. He was the second son of Ralph and Eula Rollinson of Kell, Illinois. His father (one of thirteen children) was a row crop/strawberry/livestock farmer and local merchant.
A major, life-changing event occurred when he was five (and his brother Floyd, father of Stan Rollinson, was seven) when their mother passed away from TB at the age of twenty-eight. Sometime later his father remarried Dorothy Kell. In a few years, the family welcomed their brother, Charles. Ross attended grade school in Kell and high school in Centralia. He was a proud US Army veteran and a patriotic member of the ‘Greatest Generation.’
He married Leota Mulvany of Omega, Illinois, on June 13, 1948, and began their love-filled life in Kell. They joined the Kell Baptist church and became actively involved in normal community life. Soon after they started a family when Steven Wayne was born in June 1949. He died three days after birth. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the entire family. Their second son Randall was born in 1950. Richard came along 17 months later. In 1956, Terry, the first Rollinson girl in many generations arrived. In 1963 baby Jeana followed to round out the family.
Ross and Leota were a strong Christian family who worked hard to instill conservative morals and compassionate values in their children. For many years he served as the volunteer Fire Chief in Kell. He and Leota were active members of the local Baptist Church until the family moved to Salem in 1970, and upon arriving in Salem joined the First Baptist Church.
Ross was a prolific, family-focused, resourceful, hard-driving entrepreneur. While in Kell, with various family members, he operated a general merchandise and grocery store, a milling company, a feeder pig farm, and a railroad salvage company. In 1971 he and Leota moved the family to Salem where they founded Rollinson’s Home Center which he led until 1996 when he was partially retired. At his retirement, he was awarded the Key to the City by the Salem Chamber of Commerce. He was a Mason and a Shriner.
He is survived by his four children, brother-in-law Carroll Mulvany, eleven grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. He was proceeded in death by his wife Leota Rollinson, one son, Steven Wayne Rollinson, and one great-grandchild, Leland Ross Runkle.
Services will be held at 1:00 pm at the First Baptist Church of Salem on Saturday, March 11. Visitation will be from 11:00 AM until the service hour at the church. Burial will follow at Zion Grove Cemetery south of Kell. Military Honors will be accorded at the graveside by the Salem American Legion Post #128. Memorials can be made to the First Baptist Church of Salem or the Shriners Hospital for Children, accepted by the Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home, P.O. Box 97, 310 North Broadway, Salem, IL 62881 (618) 548-1234, entrusted with the family’s care. Online condolences can be left at www.sutherlandfuneralhome.com or on the funeral home’s Facebook page.
