Palmina Mae Heigaard Rollin
After a courageous 4-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, our dearest wife, mother, and grandmother Mae passed away peacefully at home on December 29th, 2020. She was born on October 14th, 1930 in the small farming village of Gardar in northeastern North Dakota. She was one of 10 children born to Oliver and Laufey Eriksson Heigaard. Mae’s first language was Icelandic prior to starting grade school.
After graduating local schools, she enrolled in the University of North Dakota, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Technology (now Clinical Laboratory Science) in 1952. After graduation, she was employed by the North Dakota State Blood Bank System as a Hematology Assistant until her marriage in August 1958 to Leon Rolzinski (Rollin), also a graduate of the University of North Dakota.
Following their marriage, they moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where Mae was employed at the University North Carolina Hospital Blood Bank on the Chapel Hill Campus while her husband pursued a graduate degree. Following her husband’s graduation in 1959, they relocated to Wausau, Wisconsin where Mae worked at a local hospital laboratory and Leon was employed by the city of Wausau. During their 4½ years in Wausau, sons Eric and Andrew were born. In August 1963, the family moved to Englewood, Colorado. During the 10-years they lived in Englewood, daughter Patricia was born. In 1973, the family moved to Littleton, Colorado and finally, arrived in Golden, Colorado in 2016 where they presently reside.
During their years in Colorado, Mae worked in both private and hospital laboratories and physicians’ offices, retiring at the age of 81. Over the years, she and her husband traveled extensively in the US and Canada and enjoyed many years of trailer travel and camping.
Mae was preceded in death by her sisters Jonina, Ingebjorg and Lillian; her brothers Kristjan, Arthur and Herbert and her first-born son Eric, who passed away in 2019. She is survived by her husband Leon, son Andrew and daughter Patricia, all of whom reside locally; her daughter-in-law Carol, granddaughters Holly and Auburn and grandson Cameron and by her brothers James and William and sister Helen.
A memorial service is planned at Drinkwine Family Mortuary in Littleton, Colorado on Thursday, January 7th at 11:00 am. Internment at Fort Logan National Cemetery will follow shortly thereafter. The memorial service is open to the public with social distancing protocols observed but caution is urged for those concerned of the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The internment ceremony is limited to immediate family only.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Denver Hospice www.thedenverhospice.org in Mae's name and memory.
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