HIS FRIENDS CALLED HIM “FUDD,” a name Donald Rollo embraced during high school in Manito, Illinois. Yep, it’s the same name borrowed from “Elmer Fudd,” the Looney Tunes cartoon character. In part, Rollo’s nickname was inspired by the cigar he’d often be seen chewing on, and the gun he carried afield. It is also believed that he once fell and yelled, “Awe, Fudd,” and the name stuck. He was full of life and adventure, so much so that he ran off with Marie Havens to Corinth, Mississippi, where their parents’ permission wasn’t needed to marry. Back home, they didn’t attend the same school and, despite being married, didn’t live together until after they graduated in 1958.
That July, Fudd joined the U.S. Army and was sent to Fort Leonard Wood,…
