Bertille ROLLINS

WILLIAMSBURG - Bertille McMahan Rollins died on Oct. 15, 2010, at the age of 93 in Williamsburg, Va.
She was born in Altus, Okla., and was the daughter of Booker Wesley McMahan, a successful Oklahoma farmer, and his wife, Olive Blanchard McMahan. She was also the granddaughter of John Robert (J. R.) McMahan, an Oklahoma pioneer who helped found and develop the town of Altus and surrounding county.
She was preceded in death by her brother, John Robert McMahan II; and her husband, Colonel Albert Fenton Rollins, U.S. Army, Retired.
Following graduation from Altus High School in 1934, she attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., for 2 years studying music and violin. She then attended The University of Oklahoma, graduating in 1938. While there she became a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, an affiliation she enjoyed for life. Throughout high school and college she was well known for her numerous violin recitals and was a member of the Oklahoma University Symphony Orchestra, serving as first violin chair during her senior year. She was also selected as Oklahoma University's most beautiful coed in 1938 from 68 entrants and was honored in the OU Sooner yearbook of that year.
In 1940 she married Albert Rollins, a young West Point U.S. Army lieutenant, after meeting him on a blind date a year earlier. She put aside her musical past and embraced the role of Army officer's wife and mother through 20 relocations with domestic and international assignments until her husband's death in 2000. They retired to Huntsville, Ala., in 1970 where she was an active member of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra Guild, Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Huntsville and also served as a docent at the Huntsville Museum of Art for nearly 20 years.
Since 1998 she has resided at Patriots Colony retirement community in Williamsburg, Va. She maintained her Oklahoma roots and until her death oversaw the family farm there.
She is survived by her two sons, William Wesley Rollins and John Fenton Rollins; and four grandchildren by William, Holly Ann Rollins, Wesley Fenton Rollins, Matthew Leston Rollins and Kaylee McMahan Rollins; and first cousins, Helon LaGree and Hatton McMahan Jr.
Visitation will be at Becker Funeral Home in Lawton, Okla., Tel. 405-840-3881, on Oct. 29, 2010, from noon to 1:30 p.m. with burial, thereafter, at 2 p.m. at Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Fort Sill, Okla.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association, 3000 United Founders Boulevard, Suit 108, Oklahoma City, Okla., Tel. 405-840-3881. Online condolences may be expressed at www.nelsencares.com. View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.