Alane Rollings, of Atlantic Beach, Florida, passed away peacefully on November 10, 2024, with family members at her side after a brief illness.

Alane was born in Savannah, Georgia, on May 31, 1950, the second child of Harry and Irma Lee Rollings, who predeceased her. She is survived by her siblings Cynthia Rollings (m. Arthur Karlin), Pamela Rollings (m. Neal Brendel), Janet Rollings (m. Haskell Rhett), Ellen Glasser, Robert Rollings (m. Erica), and Jeremy Hackett. She is also survived by her 12 nephews and nieces Daniel Karlin, Sam Karlin, Joe Karlin (m. Christina Gouliamberis), Emma Karlin, Carley Glasser, Daisy Hargrave (m. Shaun), Nelle Okrasinski (m. Shane), Harry Glasser, Ross Brendel (m. Capel), Kurt Brendel, Henry Rollings (m. Jenny Yang), and Jackson Rollings; and her beloved parakeets Vinny and Binny.

Alane graduated from Savannah Country Day School in 1967 and remained close to many of her classmates. She began writing poetry at the age of 5, and she started a literary magazine called Amanuensis with middle school friends while at SCDS. She attended Bryn Mawr College and received her undergraduate degree with honors in humanities studies from the University of Chicago in 1972 followed by a masters in Far Eastern languages and civilizations in 1975.

Alane met her husband, writer and scholar Richard G. Stern, while taking a summer course in poetry at Harvard. Dick was the love of her life. He published more than 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, while serving on the faculty of UChicago as Professor in English Language and Literature. They spent four decades together in Chicago, with Alane writing poetry and teaching creative writing at Loyola University and UChicago. They had a wonderful life in their Hyde Park neighborhood, enjoying friendships with novelists Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, Shakespearean scholar David Bevington, and many other luminaries of the university and the city.

After Dick’s retirement from UChicago in 2001, Alane and Dick settled in Tybee Island, Georgia, until Dick’s death in 2013. Alane suffered the loss of her Tybee home in Hurricane Matthew in 2016. She moved to the Jacksonville area to be closer to family and where she made new friends through her love of books.

Alane published six books of poetry including Transparent Landscapes (1984), In Your Own Sweet Time (1989), The Struggle to Adore (1994), The Logic of Opposites (1998), To Be In This Number (2005), and Reversible World (2022). Her books have been reviewed in the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and other publications. Her work has also appeared in many literary journals and anthologies over the years. She had several unpublished manuscripts and was working on a new book set in South Africa at the time of her death.

For Alane, writing poetry was not just a hobby or profession, it was her identity and how she kept in touch with the universe. Her published work has been very well received, with praise from other poets, including Howard Nemerov, Albert Goldbarth, James Dickey, Stephen Dunn, Donald Revell, Edward Hirsch, Donald Justice, Hayden Carruth, Tony Hoagland, and Maureen McLane. Her writing has been described as inventive, extravagant, and intense. Her poems are very personal, inspired by feelings of love for all people, all fauna, and all flora, as well as the unending mysteries of life. She often uses a conversational and humorous poetic voice, with long romantic monologues and expansive imagery.

She loved teaching and said she fell in love with every student. She did all she could to inspire creativity in her students and her family members. She had a unique style, always elegant and well-dressed, favoring second hand clothes over the latest fashions. She embodied the essence of a woman who walks in beauty. We who knew her will always remember her kind encouraging words and her generous spirit.

The family will hold a memorial service in Savannah, Georgia, at Greenwich Cemetery. Contributions in Alane’s memory can be made to the University of Chicago for the Richard Stern and Alane Rollings Creative Writing Fund.

A celebration of Alane's life will be open to all.  It will be Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 2:00 pm in Savannah in the Pulaski Room at the DeSoto Hotel in downtown Savannah. Questions may be emailed to prollings@comcast.net.  Condolences may be sent to Ellen Glasser, 2060 Beach Avenue, Atlantic Beach FL  32233.

To make donations to the Richard Stern and Alane Rollings Creative Writing Fund at the University of Chicago:
Here is a link:

https://giving.uchicago.edu/site/Donation2. 

Select Humanities Division and then note in the Special Instructions section that the gift is for the “Richard Stern and Alane Rollings Creative Writing Fund.” 

Alternatively, a check can be mailed—with the above instructions included in a cover letter or memo line of the check, space permitting—to:
 
The University of Chicago
Gift Administration and Business Data
5235 S. Harper Court
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60615