Laconia – Norman V. Rollins, 93, passed into the arms of the Lord on December 9, 2016. He was a long time resident of the Belknap County Nursing Home.
Norman was born on October 7, 1923 in Laconia, New Hampshire, the son of the late George B. Rollins, a steeplejack and Lena M. Rollins, a millworker and later a Psychiatric Aide at the Laconia State School.
Norman grew up on Massachusetts Avenue – a stone’s throw from Paugas Bay. The lakes were a huge part of his life and joy – boating, swimming and fishing, as well as working on the lake installing buoys and cutting block ice in the wintertime. Norman knew the lakes like the back of his hand. He was a great fisherman, regardless of the season.
An Army veteran of WWII, Norman served in Campaigns: Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. A member of Company A of the 275th Combat Engineer Battalion, 75th Infantry Division, on Christmas Eve of 1944, fought in one of the biggest battles of WWII, in the Ardennes Forest, known as The Battle of the Bulge. Norman received the EAMET Ribbon and Good Conduct Medal and Ribbon.
Norman was an amazing automobile mechanic. On many a Sunday drive, Dad would always stop and help someone broke down on the road or highway. Once he found a wallet in the road in Maine. He hunted down the owner, who by the looks of their home and many children, really need the money. It was an indelible lesson for his children to witness of honesty and doing the right thing.
He loved family, children, animals, cars, country music and helping people in need. His favorite meal was fried scallops and a cold beer. He loved a woman named Marion.
He is predeceased by most of his family, including his parents, his sister Dorothy Heaney and his brother Robert.
He is survived by his three daughters, Darlene, Valerie, Melanie and nephews, John and Edward Heaney.
The family would like to thank the Belknap County Nursing Home for their loving care of Norman.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at 10:00am at St. Andre Bessette Parish - Sacred Heart Church, 291 Union Avenue, Laconia, NH.
Burial will follow in the family plot at Bayside Cemetery, Laconia, NH.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia NH is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.