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Carl Rollins Greene (Rolly)

Died: October 11, 1970

Carl Rollins (Rolly) Greene came to Yale from Pasadena, California by way of the Thacher School in Ojai. His father James Coffin Greene, Yale ’36 was a prominent lawyer in Los Angeles, Chairman of O’Melveny & Myers. Freshman year Rolly roomed in Farnam with Dan Avery and Toby Condliffe. He later roomed in Saybrook with Roy Durham and Breck Wilcox. Rolly and his Saybrook roommates were ushers at the December 1964 wedding in Shreveport, LA of Frances Walker and Piero Fenci in our class. Other classmates who were ushers were Richard Warren Pershing, David Sanford Milch, John Blossman, and Frederick W. Smith. Rolly was a history major. He played soccer for Saybrook after being on the freshman soccer team. He was also on the freshman lacrosse team. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, Dwight Hall and worked for the Yale Student Laundry.

Dan Avery wrote: “As I recall, Toby (Condliffe) , Rolly and I were put together freshman year because we all had some connection to the Hennings (Master and Mistress of Saybrook). The very first evening, Rolly dragged me to a poker party with the west coast contingent, where I lost, badly. I remember that he did not change the sheets on his bed for months at a time — thrilling Toby no doubt. I don’t remember how we determined who got the single, but I was glad it was me when I saw the sheets up close. Other than those two recollections, Rolly pretty much went his own way and did his own thing.”

Toby Condliffe wrote: “I remember him as a happy go lucky, fun loving guy with a girlfriend at Conn College.”

Rolly died in a mountaineering accident in Colorado on October 11, 1970 along with Peter Goodwin. The 10th Mountain Division Hut Association of Colorado built a hut in their honor in the 1970s. The Goodwin-Greene Hut is located near timberline at 11,680 feet, near the head of the Difficult Creek drainage about 12 miles south of the Aspen Mountain Ski Area, in central Colorado.