Rollins Lynne Tindell Jr., M.D.

Rollins Lynne Tindell Jr., M.D., 75, of Orange Beach, Alabama, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on September 29, 2026.

Rollins was born August 25, 1951, in Dothan, Alabama, to Rollins Lynne Tindell Sr. and Margaret Peacock Tindell. He was raised in the heart of the Wiregrass, where family ties and time spent with his grandparents helped shape the interests and values that stayed with him throughout his life. He visited his Peacock grandparents in downtown Enterprise and spent many happy hours with his Tindell grandparents on their farm in Hartford. It was in Hartford that he helped with chores, hunted the fields, and fished the pond, sparking a lifelong love of farming, hunting, and just about anything involving a rod and reel.

Rollins graduated from Dothan High School in 1969, where he played football and was a member of the National Honor Society. He went on to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry. After pledging Sigma Nu fraternity, he rose through its ranks to serve as Commander during his senior year, gaining an early taste of the leadership that would become an important part of his professional life.

Rollins and Cynthia Sconyers first met at the beach during the summer after their sophomore year at Dothan High School. They began dating the following year and remained together through their years at the University of Alabama. One week after graduation in May 1973, they were married. What began as a high-school romance became a partnership that would span more than five decades.

By July 1973, the newlyweds had moved to Birmingham, where Rollins entered the three-year medical school program at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He graduated cum laude in 1976 and immediately began a one-year internship in the Department of Medicine at UAB Hospitals and Clinics. In January 1977, Rollins and Cynthia welcomed their son, Thomas Kells Tindell.

Following his internship, the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in May 1977, where Rollins began a three-year residency in ophthalmology at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Hospital. His earliest exposure to the world of eye care had come from his father, an optometrist by profession. That interest deepened during residency and ultimately led to his acceptance into a one-year retina-vitreous fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, Florida.

At the completion of his fellowship in June 1981, Rollins accepted an offer to join Mobile Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Center in Mobile, Alabama, becoming one of only two retina-trained ophthalmologists in the state. In November 1982, Rollins and Cynthia welcomed their daughter, Kathryn.

Over the next 38 years of practice, Rollins was instrumental in many of the changes that shaped the practice around him. He helped guide Mobile Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Center through a major move, the addition of physicians and clinical staff, and the development of Surgicare of Mobile. In 1997, Mobile Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Center merged with Dauphin West Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat to become Premier Medical Group, creating one of the Southeast's largest multispecialty eye, ear, nose and throat practices. Rollins valued the people he worked with and believed that strong relationships within a practice ultimately helped provide better care for patients.

For all of those professional accomplishments, Rollins would always say that the most rewarding part of his career was his relationship with his patients. He cared for his patients beyond the limits of his own specialty, making sure they found the right physician, diagnosis, and care whenever their needs extended beyond ophthalmology.

Rollins remained active throughout his career in a number of respected professional organizations. His affiliations included the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, the American Intra-Ocular Implant Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, where he was a Life Fellow, the Alabama Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Society of Retina Specialists, the Medical Society of Mobile County, and the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. He especially valued his longtime involvement with Windsor National Associates and the opportunity it gave him to exchange ideas and experiences with fellow physicians and practice leaders.

Outside medicine, Rollins found some of his greatest happiness outdoors. Beginning in 1987, Orange Beach became a treasured part of family life. Fishing, however, was his true sporting passion. He loved the Gulf and deep-water fishing, the challenge of finding fish, and the satisfaction of bringing home something worth eating. Just as importantly, he loved taking his family with him, even if not everyone aboard shared his tolerance for the rocking and rolling.

What the family called a hunting camp for more than thirty years gradually became simply "the farm," which was probably a better description of what Rollins loved about it. He enjoyed hunting, but he took even greater pleasure in improving the land: running equipment, clearing and planting, managing habitat, growing deer, listening for turkeys, and watching a project he had imagined take shape. He wanted the property to be better because he had cared for it and to leave something worthwhile for the generations that followed. He also valued the friendships he formed there with neighboring landowners, local residents, game wardens, family, and friends.

Rollins was a member of Dauphin Way United Methodist Church, a devoted Alabama football fan and supporter, and a member of the Mobile Big Game Fish Club, the Mobile Touchdown Club, and the University of Alabama Alumni Association. He has long been rumored to have been a member of several mystic societies.

Rollins approached nearly everything in life much the same way: with purpose, persistence, high expectations, and very little interest in doing anything halfway. Whether caring for a patient, helping build a medical practice, working a piece of land, finding fish beyond the horizon, or caring for the family at the center of his life, he believed that if something was worth doing, it was worth doing well. He leaves behind not simply the things he helped build, but people, places, and institutions that are better because he was there.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Rollins Lynne Tindell Sr. and Margaret Peacock Tindell.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Cynthia Sconyers Tindell; his son, Thomas Kells Tindell, and his wife, Jennifer, of Spanish Fort, Alabama; his daughter, Kathryn Tindell Pope, and her husband, Dr. Jeffrey D. Pope, of Dallas, Texas; his grandchildren, Jackson, Caroline, and William Pope; and his sister, Elizabeth "Libbo" Tindell McCollum and her husband, Gwaltney, of Birmingham, Alabama.

His extended family also includes Drs. James and Kathy Sconyers Mize of Decatur, Alabama; David and Elizabeth Sconyers of Dothan, Alabama; Michael and Debbie Sconyers Blackmon of Lawrenceville, Georgia; and their children, Benjamin, Juliana, William, Laura, Audrey, Natalie, and Jill.

Also surviving him are his nieces, Margaret McCollum DeBardeleben and her husband, Whitney, of Birmingham, and their children, Sarah and Rollins; Elizabeth McCollum Goodwyn and her husband, Caleb, of Montgomery, and their children, John and Libby; and his godson, Benton Allen Emblom, M.D., and his wife, Anna, of Birmingham.

The family would like to offer a very special thank-you to the HomeRN team, and especially to Tanjaneque Durgin and Jessica Perkins, who cared for Rollins with extraordinary kindness and became very special to him, and to Phil with Southern Care Hospice, for the compassion, patience, and care he gave both Rollins and our family.

Memorials

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the American Cancer Society, 900 Western America Dr., Suite 101, Mobile, AL 36609, or to the charity of your choice.

Services

A Celebration of Life will be held at Mobile Country Club on Thursday, October 15, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

A graveside service in Dothan, followed by a Celebration of Life in Dothan will be held at a later date.