Veteran Lucky To Miss Bombing, But Sad He Wasn't There

AVON PARK - The day Walter Rollf found out Pearl Harbor had been bombed is one of the few times in his life he remembers crying.

"When that happened and again when President Roosevelt died, I sat and bawled," Rollf said.

Just 10 days before the Dec. 7, 1941 attack, Rollf, a Navy seaman, had been transferred out of Pearl Harbor.

"I cried mostly because I wasn't there, and I feel like I should have been," Rollf said, then pausing. "I lost a lot of good buddies that day, and it made me feel worse because I wasn't there with them."

Rollf, a fifth-generation military man, would be what many consider lucky, having never been in combat during his years in the military, but he says he wishes things were different.

"I figured the Good Lord must have had a reason for keeping me out of harm's way and keeping me around," said Rollf, who worked on a submarine chaser for most of his military career.

It wasn't until seven years ago that Rollf discovered that purpose, when he accepted a job as a youth care worker on the night shift at Avon Park Youth Academy.

"That's why I'm still here," said the 86-year-old. "My purpose is to help those kids."

He realized the impact he has when one of the juvenile residents who had been released from the rehabilitative facility called and thanked him.

"This kid was about the biggest problem child I had to deal with," Rollf said. "But when I heard him thanking me for everything, it made everything worth it."

Everyone at the academy calls him Pops, "that's because there is no one out there older than me," he said with a grin. And he refers to the residents, who are juvenile convicted felons, as his kids.

"I've had about 12 kids ask me to adopt them, and a lot of them ask me to be their grandpa," Rollf said. "Some people treat those kids like prisoners but not me. The only way to get them to respect you is to give them respect, so I do."

His method seems to work -- in seven years, he has only written about 10 violations.

"It makes me madder than the devil when I have to write one because it means I didn't get through to a kid," he said.

Although Rollf has two children, nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, he refers to his coworkers at the academy as his family.

They even gave him his first birthday party earlier this year.

"I was 86, and I had never had a birthday party before," Rollf said. "Growing up during the Depression, you were excited just to have food on the table. You didn't get a cake or party or anything fancy."

When his wife, Juanita, whose name is tattooed on his right arm, died about five years ago, Rollf became even more involved in his work, and he even volunteers to work on the holidays so other staff members can enjoy time with their families.

He is known around the academy for his great cooking skills, some of which he learned in the Navy. His recipe for peanut butter pie won him first place in the annual cook off contest last year.