Celia Rollinson Meekins | Island Free Press (2024)

October 28, 1944 – July 20, 2024

MANTEO — Celia Rollinson Meekins died on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at Spring Arbor of the Outer Banks. She was born on Hatteras Island in the Village of Buxton on October 28, 1944, to Robert Crisp Rollinson, Sr., and Patricia Williams Rollinson, being the 8th of eight children.

A celebration of life service and burial will be held at the Meekins Family Cemetery, located at 160 D Victor Meekins Road, Manteo, NC, on Roanoke Island, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 10, 2024. Following the service, all are welcome to join the family for light refreshments at 174 D Victor Meekins Road, Manteo, NC.

To honor and celebrate the memory of Celia, contributions may graciously be directed to Albemarle Home Care & Hospice, located at 1507 N Road St, Suite 2, Elizabeth City, NC 27909, reflecting her spirit of generosity and care.

Growing up in Buxton, Celia was active in the Buxton Methodist Church, where she participated in the children’s choir, Christmas programs, Vacation Bible School, and Youth Fellowship while attending Cape Hatteras School.

Her high school years were spent in Spindale, NC, where she attended Rutherfordton-Spindale Central High School. In this high school setting, her Outer Banks persona catapulted her to popularity with the student body, making friends easily on campus and winning the title of Miss Carousel Princess in 1962. During these high school years, she was invited to and attended the Carolinas Christmas Parade and Carousel luncheon and ball in Charlotte, where Maria Beal Fletcher (Miss America 1962) was the guest of honor at the Carousel luncheon. In her graduation year, she represented her senior class and became Miss Central High Homecoming Queen in 1963.

After completing high school, Celia enrolled in the Patricia Stevens Academy finishing school in Atlanta, GA, where she majored in fashion design, merchandising, and professional modeling. She then was employed in that field with the Davidson-Paxton department store (later to become Macy’s) for some time.

Next, she returned to Piedmont, North Carolina, and landed a job with the Thomason Chevrolet Co. in Thomasville, where she became known as “the Chevrolet Girl with the Atlanta Coca-Cola voice.” She immediately joined the Memorial United Methodist Church, became a member of the United Methodist Women (Circle # 5), taught Sunday School, became a greeter and usher for services, and became a life member of the United Methodist Women.

She attended Davidson County Community College. It was not long before she received an invitation from the Thomasville City Schools superintendent to join the school system, where she spent the next 28 years employed in Primary Education, after which she retired. She is a life member of the National Education Association.

During her years in Thomasville, she was active in and became a member of the Thomasville Jaycettes, Junior Women’s Club, Gamma Xi Sorority (girl of the year award). She also became a charter member of the North Carolina Jaycees, and assisted her husband who was the chairman to organize the North Carolina delegation to the national Jaycees convention held in San Diego, CA, in 1972. In her work with the Jaycees, she was a chaperone and coach for contestants in the Miss Thomasville Pageant. She then continued serving as a chaperone and coach for eight years with the various contestants for each year’s title, and continued on as coach with all of the Miss Thomasville winners who then entered the Miss North Carolina pageant. Four of her candidates placed in the top 10 in the Miss North Carolina pageants, one winning the title of Miss North Carolina in 1975. Celia followed Susan Lawrence on to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, where Susan achieved First Runner-Up title to Miss America.

During the years while Celia was resident in Thomasville and employed in the school system there, she spent her summers with her family on Hatteras Island and worked with her sister Bette Gray in the real estate rental business in Rodanthe. While working there one summer at Midgett Realty, she became acquainted with one of the clients who was then developing Mirlo Beach and seeking refuge from an afternoon thunderstorm, and in September 2000 married Roger P. Meekins.

Celia retired from the North Carolina Department of Public Education in January 2001, and shortly thereafter she and Roger departed on a slightly delayed honeymoon and an assignment in Zambia, sub-Saharan Africa, with the International Executive Service Corps. Roger was an advisor to a furniture manufacturing firm, and Celia taught kindergarten as a volunteer at the Queen Victoria Elementary School while they lived for six weeks in Livingstone, Zambia (part-time in a safari camp overlooking the Zambezi River and part-time in a hotel in town). This trip transported them completely around the world–stopping in across the Atlantic in London on the way outbound, and after Zambia, going on to South Africa, Australia, and across the Australian continent by train to Sydney, on to Hawaii, California, and eventually back to the east coast of the US.

Returning home to these “Wild Outer Banks,” Celia joined the Manteo Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church. While living as a resident she has continued her love and support for the Fair Haven UMC and UMW in Rodanthe and Waves, where her mother and sister were members. Celia was always willing to teach Vacation Bible School and direct VBS or UMW memorials “for those who had gone before” at Fair Haven UMC in Waves while spending her summers in Rodanthe. The Fair Haven UMW presented her with a second life membership pin in 2006 for dedication to the UMW.

While traveling the world with her husband, she has been introduced to the breadth of the continents of North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. She became more internationally oriented with geographical relationships of the world, various cultures, international relations, modes of transportation, exotic foods, and regional fashions. She has been introduced to the performing arts, European castles, cathedrals and museums throughout Europe–being especially impressed by St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Since living in Manteo, she has become acquainted with, a member of, and a participant in Mount Olivet UMC, Roanoke Island Historical Association, Elizabethan Gardens (where she has been a volunteer docent), Military Officers Association of America, Outer Banks History Center and Roanoke Island Festival Park, and the Outer Banks Community Foundation.

In addition to her parents, Celia was predeceased by her husband, Roger P. Meekins; by brothers John Boyd Rollinson, Robert C. Rollinson, Jr., and Victor L. Rollinson; by sisters Margaret (Peggy) Rollinson Gilbert, Shirley Rollinson O’Neal, and Bette Rollinson Gray.

She is survived by her sister, Audrey R. Rollinson, and by many nephews, nieces, and cousins.

Due to impending weather, the celebration of life service will be held at Twiford Colony Chapel, Manteo, on Saturday, August 10, 2024, at 11:00 am. Burial will take place at the Meekins Family Cemetery. Following the celebration of life service, all are welcome to join the family for light refreshments at 174 D Victor Meekins Road, Manteo, NC.To livestream Mrs. Meekins’s service, please visitwww.TwifordFH.com.

Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks, is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories may be shared at www.TwifordFH.com.