Lieutenant Paul W. “Skip” Rolfes
(1945-2024)

Skip was born August 24, 1945 to Paul H. and Martha A. (Sanders) Rolfes. He attended Lockland High School where he played halfback on their football team and graduated in 1963.

After high school, a he went to work at the General Electric Company.

On or about June 11, 1970, Skip joined the Sharonville Police Department as a Patrolman. He graduated from the Basic Training Course at the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy on December 15, 1970. He was a monitor for REACT (Radio Emergency Associated Communication Teams), a North American Citizen Band (CB) Emergency Channel 9 monitoring organization founded in 1962 to stand watch and to help motorists. About July 1976, Sharonville Police Chief William Nuss appointed Officer Rolfes to head up a CB radio program to speak with fellow CBers traveling through Sharonville, north and south on Interstate 75 and east and west on the Circle Freeway. Sharonville Police dispatchers monitored Channel 9 six days a week and received calls for service through that medium. All Sharonville patrol cars were outfitted with CB radios. He was promoted to Sergeant during April 1977. While still managing the CB project, on June 28, 1979, he overheard suspicious EMS response transmissions by a group calling themselves the Highway Emergency Aid Rescue Team. He investigated and made arrests for Falsification, closing down the criminal operation. By July 1980, he was promoted to Lieutenant. Lieutenant Rolfes resigned in 1982 after 12 years of service to Sharonville.

Changing careers, he moved his family to Texas. Nine years later, he returned to Cincinnati, took a leadership position with Burns Security, and for ten years provided security at Riverfront Stadium for the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals.

Lieutenant Rolfes died February 11, 2024 at the age of 78.

He was predeceased by his siblings, Joe Rolfes and Janet (Frank) Oaks and brothers-in-law, John and Dave. Lieutenant Rolfes is survived by his wife of almost 24 years, Anne (Martin) Rolfes; children, Gina (Chuey) Rolfes, Carrie (Greg) Hester, and Stephanie Stephens; stepchildren, Christopher Davis, Sara Davis, Jessica Davis; Godson, Ronald Griswold;  grandchildren, Chelsea Hood, Donald Hester, Calvin Hester, Cole Hester, Alec Gilreath, Kaelyn Booker, James Feerer, Christian Ivey, Aoefi Paxton, Abbi Ivey, Lexi Stephens, Andrey Perry, Jr., and Vincent Leporati; and siblings, Mary Ann (Bill) Bross, Martha Jean Rizzo, Barbara Rolfes, Chuck (Sharon) Rolfes, and Mary Lou Rolfes.

Visitation will be held 5 to 7 p.m. on Monday, February 19, 2024 at the Shorten and Ryan Funeral Home, 400 Reading Road, in Mason. A funeral service will be held there at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 20th. He will be interred later in the week.

Memorials can be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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