September 18, 1923 – November 4, 2011

Norma Rollins Green and her husband, Julian “Jake” Green, who preceded her in death, were founding members of the Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Norma had a zest for life and loved teaching, being with people, attending plays, concerts, and the Fellowship.

Norma and Jake attended Paris School. She grew up in Southern Worsted Mill Village where she said, “We never knew there was a Depression.” She was the daughter of Mattie and Broadus Rollins. Mattie worked at the mill starting at age thirteen and Broadus was a salesman.

Norma attended Anderson College and UNC Chapel Hill because her father told Jake, “You can marry her but first she has to get a college education.” Later Norma earned her MA from Clemson. Jake went off to Europe to serve during WWII while Norma completed her degrees in theatre and education. She joined Jake for the occupation in Salzburg, Austria where they spent over three years. Norma said it was one of the high points in their lives. Their first son, Kenneth, was born there. One year later, after they had returned to the US, their second son, Phil, arrived. They moved to New Mexico and spent the next 15 years. Norma taught school and then joined Jake in managing a dude ranch in the Pecos Wilderness. After their third son, Keith, was born they moved back to Greenville in 1967. Norma taught reading at Beck Middle and Greer High School for twenty years. Norma and Jake divided their time between Pecos, near the old dude ranch, and Fripp Island. Her last big adventure was a trip to Alaska in 2005. In her own words, “I walked a logjam to look a grizzly bear in the eye from fifty yards away.”

Within two years, Norma lost her mother, her husband, and her youngest son, Keith, who was killed in a boating accident on the Chattooga. She is survived by her sons and their wives: Ken and Cindy, Phil and Subie and their son, Sean, and his wife Donna and their three children. Leigh Green, Keith’s wife, lives in Greer.

Norma’s ashes were scattered with Jake’s and Keith’s in the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico where she said, “We had some really good times.”  A service to honor her life was held at the Fellowship on December 16, 2011.