Roland Remmel

Roland Rowe "Rollie" Remmel (1917-2006) was a popular Arkansas politico known for giving away walking-sticks called Rollie Sticks. Bill Clinton was one such recipient. Remmel was known in Little Rock as "Papa Duck" for his work protecting waterfowl with Ducks Unlimited. Many of his sticks, which were crafted in his shop at home, carried duck heads. At charity auctions the sticks fetched up to $8,000 each.

In 2001 Remmel launched a one-man campaign to raise money for the reopening of thirteen park lavatories closed in a Little Rock financial crisis tied to the issuance of $16 million in park revenue bonds to pay for the site of William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park.

Remmel received a degree in business from the University of Arkansas in 1940. During the Second World War he refueled military planes on the island of Trinidad. After the war he became an Air Force contraction, and then opened Southland Building Products, the Fixed Assets Leasing Company, and the Compass Trading Company. He later was elected to the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame. He died of cancer on July 2, 2006.

References

• "It's Arkansas, Stupid," The Economist," August 11, 2001.
• "Roland Remmel, 88, Who Worked to Aid Ducks, Dies," New York Times, July 5, 2006.