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Ducks Unlimited Legacy of Service Award: Rollie Remmel

4 min read

Rollie Remmel embodied the title “best friend” to everyone he met and every cause he got behind. Untiring in his passion for ducks and conservation and irresistible in his boundless love for people, Remmel was, in fact, the best friend Arkansas, duck hunting and thousands of individuals ever had.

“God smiled when he made Arkansas,” Gov. Mike Huckabee once said, “and God smiled again when he made Rollie Remmel.”

Roland Rowe “Rollie” Remmel, was born Sept. 26, 1917, as one of six children. Raised by his widowed mother, he came to hunting late, but once indoctrinated he embraced the sport with trademark enthusiasm. He was equal parts practitioner, benefactor and outright cheerleader, raising millions of dollars for, and introducing thousands of people to, the sport.

“I’m a member of anything and everything that will help ducks,” he said in 1998’s Arkansas Duck Hunter’s Almanac. “It didn’t take me long to figure out that if we save the waterfowl resource, my children and other people’s children would have the option of hunting.”

Remmel’s vehicle of choice in this endeavor was Ducks Unlimited, where his skill in fundraising and boundless energy for promotion earned him the nickname “Papa Duck.” Paired with an able co-pilot – his wife Ruth – Remmel was nearly impossible for a prospective donor to turn down.

Between the couple’s personal example – the two attained DU “sponsors into perpetuity” status, which at the time required a $25,000 donation – and their compelling, heartfelt dialogue about the organization, donors were as helpless as a fat mallard in a strong headwind.

“We don’t do a lot of yakking,” Remmel told the Almanac. “Nobody’s going to do much listening anyway. Ruth once raised $50,000 for Ducks Unlimited in about five minutes.”

Before Remmel took over as Arkansas Ducks Unlimited chairman, the group struggled to raise $5,000 annually. His first year in charge – 1966 – Remmel raised $20,000 and promised to exceed that by 20 percent every year afterward.

It’s hard to guess exactly how much money Remmel raised on behalf of Ducks Unlimited, but armed with his familiar closer, “Give ‘til it hurts. It’s for Mama Duck!” he was always seeking more.

Remmel’s most amazing feat might have been on the occasion of his 80th birthday bash where guests ponied up around $400,000 in three hours. Then-Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, chairman of the birthday bash fundraiser, summed it up best in the Almanac, saying, “[Rollie] has been King Duck of Arkansas.”

The title, while well-deserved, was something of a misnomer as Remmel’s reputation wasn’t bound by the borders of the Natural State. He was known throughout North America. His birthday funds, for instance, proved equally as useful underwriting the Bittern Lake North project in Alberta, Canada, as they did the Arkansas River Care Project along state flyways.

Remmel found another way to pad DU’s coffers with his Rollie Sticks, hand-carved walking sticks that found their way onto charity auction blocks where they fetched anywhere from $1,500 to $8,000 depending on which eyewitness you talk to. Rollie Sticks also became a symbol of respect for people lucky enough to be gifted one. That list included presidents and vice presidents, a former Supreme Court justice, a raft of Arkansas governors and ordinary folks doing extraordinary things to make life better for others.

“My sticks are bipartisan,” Remmel liked to say. “I give them to Democrats and Republicans alike.”

Not surprisingly, Remmel was the recipient of many accolades and awards in recognition of all he’d done for various organizations and causes. He and Ruth were part of the inaugural class of inductees to the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame in 1992, sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. The Canadian project funded through his birthday bash was rechristened the Rollie Remmel Project in 1997 and a portion of Arkansas’ Ed Gordon/Point Remove Wildlife Management Area was renamed Rollie Remmel Marsh in 1999.

He was also a proud veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, founded Southland Building Products and served the industry through its trade group, the National Plywood Association, including a stint as its national president in 1950 and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame.

The list of community and church organizations Remmel supported in addition to his conservation work is long and distinguished.

Not long before his death in 2006, a Little Rock television station aired a piece on Remmel in which he shared some pointers from his life philosophy. Among them, get up in the morning with a purpose, know the value of an education and treat others with respect. The secret to a happy life, he said, lies in one’s attitude.

“Some people you gotta turn upside down to make ‘em smile,” he once said with a twinkle in his eye. “The difference between the optimist and the pessimist is the optimist enjoys the route more.”

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