Rolla R. Hinkle II | Roswell Daily Record

MEMORIAL UPDATE: Rolla’s dear wife, Marjorie Woodul Hinkle passed away on October 2, 2021 at her home in Ruidoso, NM, just nine months after Rolla. Marge’s son, Chris, said, “Rolla came by early in the morning to get Marge so they could go to the Balloon Fiesta.”

The families will hold an open house honoring Rolla and Marge in Ruidoso on Friday, November 26, 2021, from 4-6 PM at the Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club.

Rolla R. Hinkle II was born February 2, 1933 in Roswell, NM to Rolla R. Hinkle and Marian Fell Hinkle. He passed peacefully in his sleep on January 19, 2021 at his home in Ruidoso, NM, at 87 years of age. Rolla attended Roswell schools and graduated from New Mexico Military Institute in 1951. He then attended the University of Missouri, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Economics. While at the University, he met Julie Ann Schaffer and they were married on December 26, 1955. After graduation, he enlisted in the US Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He and Julie were stationed in Weisbaden, Germany from 1956 to 1958.

When his time in Germany was complete, they returned to Roswell, then moved to the CA Bar Ranch near Bingham, NM where they spent seven years planning and improving the ranch. During that time, he and Julie had two sons, Rolla III in 1959 and Madison in 1963.

The family moved to Roswell in 1965 so the boys could attend school and Rolla became a ranch real estate appraiser with his lifelong friends, David McGee and Dick Armstrong. While doing appraisals he spent a couple of years planning and designing a custom cattle feed yard south of Roswell and in 1970 he broke ground on what was to be known as Chaves County Cattle Corp. which grew to be a feed yard of over 16,000 head. He operated the feed yard until 1985 when he sold it to focus full time on fly-fishing, ballooning and just general fun. Rolla was always looking for the next adventure in which to have fun, and everywhere he went, he was the life of the party. He took the balloon everywhere and one of his greatest joys was being able to host balloon rides for children who were patients at Carrie Tingley Hospital.

In 1990 he began to refocus his attention on the ranch near Bingham. He revamped the water system creating small, earthen tanks called “puddle ponds” in order to catch water at all places on the ranch, for which he was recognized with an award from the National Resource Conservation Service. Rolla served as president of the NMMI Alumni association, was a member of the Fin and Feather Club in Roswell and a member of both the New Mexico Cattle Growers and Texas Cattle Feeders Associations, but his favorite association was with the RISERS – Roswell’s Imperial Society for the Enjoyment of Roaring and Soaring, which was the original group owning the first NMMI balloon.

Rolla eventually moved to Ruidoso, NM where he met and married Marge Woodul, who survives him. He is also survived by his sons, Rolla R. Hinkle III and Madison M. “Matt” Hinkle and his wife Susan, and their children and grandchildren; Marge’s children Jennifer, Jessie, Richard, Bill and Chris and their families; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Julie, his sister Aleen McQuiddy and her husband, Arthur R. McQuiddy, and Marge’s daughter, Cindy.

Rolla will rest at his beloved CA Bar Ranch.