Roland Dolly, the son of Leroy and Delores Dolly, was born and raised in Lyman County, South Dakota. His public career included serving U.S. Senator James Abonor, the Reagan Administration in Washington, D.C., and the state of South Dakota on the Economic Development Commission under Governor George S. Mickelson. While returning from an economic development mission in Ohio, Dolly, Governor Mickelson, and six others were killed in a plane crash on April 19, 1993, near Dubuque, Iowa.