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Gary and Denise Rollins are co-owners of the new Rollins Life Celebration Center on Catoctin Avenue. Denise heads grief support services while Gary serves as funeral director and mortician. They are standing in a room pays homage to Albert Dixon, the first Black mortician in Frederick County. Denise is Dixon's great-granddaughter.
The Rollins Life Celebration Center is at 330 Catoctin Ave, in Frederick. It offers funeral and grief support services and is available to host other events.
Community members came out in droves to show support for the opening of the Rollins Life Celebration Center at 330 Catoctin Ave. in Frederick.
Gary and Denise Rollins cut the ribbon Friday on their new Rollins Life Celebration Center.
Gary and Denise Rollins are co-owners of the new Rollins Life Celebration Center on Catoctin Avenue. Denise heads grief support services while Gary serves as funeral director and mortician. They are standing in a room pays homage to Albert Dixon, the first Black mortician in Frederick County. Denise is Dixon's great-granddaughter.
The Rollins Life Celebration Center is at 330 Catoctin Ave, in Frederick. It offers funeral and grief support services and is available to host other events.
Community members came out in droves to show support for the opening of the Rollins Life Celebration Center at 330 Catoctin Ave. in Frederick.
Gary and Denise Rollins cut the ribbon Friday on their new Rollins Life Celebration Center.
Funeral director and mortician Gary L. Rollins sees funerals as a time of celebration.
"We're celebrating life," Rollins said in an interview. "We're celebrating a person who's lived."
It's that outlook and a passion for serving others holistically that led to the name of Rollins' new funeral home, the Rollins Life Celebration Center.
The center, at 330 Catoctin Ave. in Frederick, opened this month after breaking ground in January 2021. It is a dream of Rollins' that's been nearly 30 years in the making since he opened his first funeral home in Frederick, his hometown, in 1993 on West All Saints Street.
Gary Rollins and his wife, Denise Rollins, own the Rollins Life Celebration Center, which provides both funeral and grief support services. It is the only Black-owned funeral home in the county, Gary Rollins said.
Denise heads the Whole Heart Grief and Life Resource Center, which operates out of the same building. She holds a doctorate degree in marriage and family therapy and a master's in the study of grief and death.
Whole Heart's services include one-on-one coaching, small-group facilitation, a monthly grief support group and more.
On Friday afternoon, surrounded by family, friends, elected officials and community supporters, the Rollinses cut the ribbon on the new celebration center.
"We said from the beginning we wanted this to be your house," Denise told the crowd of roughly 100 people outside the building. "Gary always said he didn't want to leave people at the cemetery."
Gary, in an interview, said they want the building to be a place for the community, not limited to times of mourning. They welcome all types of events, such as luncheons, baby showers, group meetings and even weddings.
Gary said he would like to add a second building devoted to grief services. He said he believes it would be beneficial to have more physical distance between where funerals are held and where people come for Whole Heart's grief support. For now, they have separate entrances to help, he said.
Prior to the move to Catoctin Avenue, the Gary L. Rollins Funeral Home operated at 110 W. South St. for 25 years, less than a mile from the new location.
Gary said he has been moved by people who told him the celebration center does not feel like a funeral home, which was intentionally designed to be different from the norm.
The 9,000-square-foot-plus building's exterior is largely covered in copper metal, with artistic stone walls near the entrance and a sloping black roof.
Just inside the front doors, black and white plaques are displayed in tribute to loved ones. The cream-colored floor sparkles with flecks of gold and splashes of pink and gray swirls.
Water falls from an elegant display in the lobby, surrounded by comfy yellow chairs. Brown beams highlight the angled ceiling and gold accents dominate throughout.
Colorful, inviting artwork marks the walls. The repast room — a space to gather and eat following a funeral — is filled with natural light and provides a serene space near the chapel.
"It's beautiful," said Theresa Brown, who lives nearby. "It doesn't even seem like a funeral home."
The chapel can seat 130 people.
Another room pays homage to Albert Dixon, the first Black mortician in Frederick County. The space is adorned with old photos and ornate furniture that beckons to a different time.
Underneath sunny skies, Dixon's great-granddaughter stretched out her arm, beckoning people inside the new center.
"Come on in," Denise said.
Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller
Reverends said prayers, shovels turned dirt and the first step toward the birth of a funeral home was complete.
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