Hundreds of friends, family members, community leaders, artists, writers, colleagues, and others whose lives were touched by Elise Roenigk gathered to celebrate a life that left an extraordinary imprint on Eureka Springs.
It was a morning filled with stories.
Stories of friendship and philanthropy. Stories of art, books, historic hotels, and community causes. Stories that stretched from college days to Eureka Springs, from mechanical music boxes to Alcatraz, and from longtime friendships to small acts of kindness quietly offered to strangers.
And, appropriately for Roenigk, it all happened over brunch.
Jodie English Brown, a longtime friend and former director of sales for the Crescent and Basin Park hotels, opened the celebration and guided guests through the morning, introducing each speaker who followed.
“Elise loved a good brunch,” she told the crowd as the celebration began.
“Recently, I was asked, ‘What were some of Elise’s favorite things?’ Purple, for sure,” English Brown said. “As I thought more about the question, I realized that Elise’s favorite things were all of us—the people she surrounded herself with every day.”
That community filled the room for a celebration structured much like a good book, something Roenigk herself dearly loved.
“Good books begin with a compelling story and great characters,” English Brown told guests. “And Elise loved a good book.”
The characters in Roenigk’s story represented the remarkable breadth of her life.
English Brown then shared a more personal side of Roenigk, recalling a friendship that began some 25 years ago at a Historic Hotels of America conference in Charleston, South Carolina, and eventually helped bring her to Eureka Springs. Over the years, their adventures ranged from historic hotel conferences to a hot September Ferrari rally in Elise’s Lotus and even a tour of Alcatraz, after which Elise enjoyed telling friends they had “spent time behind bars together.”
But beneath the laughter was a friendship that changed the course of English Brown’s life.
“I am here today because Elise helped me to see that Eureka Springs was where I needed to be in a moment when I needed that direction most,” English Brown said. “Thank you, Elise.”
Roenigk’s much younger brother, Rick Feutz, followed with memories of childhood and a lifelong closeness with both Elise and Marty. He recalled growing up alongside his sister and said the celebration itself would become one of his own treasured memories—a chance to see, gathered in one room, the full scope of the community she and Marty had built.
Suzie Bell spoke about Roenigk’s support of ECHO, Eureka Christian Health Outreach, and her commitment to ensuring that people in the community had access to healthcare.
Kelly McDonough of the Eureka Springs School of the Arts shared another important chapter: Roenigk’s deep love of art. She was both a collector and a supporter of the people who created it, as well as organizations dedicated to teaching and encouraging future generations of artists.
Steve Beacham spoke of a dream Roenigk shared with others—that Eureka Springs might someday have an art museum celebrating the artists whose work has helped define the community. Beacham shared that Elise was both a donor and a docent.
Carla Wiemer recalled the friendship she and Roenigk developed through a shared fascination with mechanical music boxes. Roenigk collected them and became involved with the Musical Box Society International, another example of the curiosity that continually led her toward new people, places, and friendships.
Some of the day’s stories reached much further back. Author Gay Courter met Roenigk when they were 17. The two were college roommates, beginning a friendship that would span decades.
Shelby Chestnut represented Antioch College, Roenigk’s alma mater and the place where she met both Courter and the man who would become her husband, Marty.
Angela Mateus of the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow spoke about another of Roenigk’s passions: books, writers, and storytelling. Her support of the Writers’ Colony reflected the same pattern seen throughout her life—when Roenigk found people creating something meaningful, she wanted to help give them the opportunity to succeed.
Kent Turner of Main Stage spoke about yet another part of that legacy: supporting young people and the arts through drama and theater.
Taken together, the speakers painted a portrait larger than any single organization or accomplishment. Roenigk was a historic preservationist, community empath, and businesswoman. She was a philanthropist and patron of the arts. She supported healthcare, writers, artists, students, and community organizations.
But the stories told at her celebration suggested that her greatest legacy may have been something considerably simpler.
She noticed people.
The final remembrance came from Roenigk’s book club, “Reading Between the Wines,” whose members described themselves as much more than a book club but a “tribe.” Speaking for the group, Jill Slane recalled Roenigk’s extraordinary generosity and a simple tradition that captured her kindness: she carried small angel tokens in her pocket and gave them to friends and strangers who seemed to need encouragement. In Elise’s memory, the book club distributed pocket angels to those attending the celebration, asking each person to carry one until they encounter someone who needs it more, then give it away and share Elise’s story. “In that way, Elise’s kindness doesn’t end,” Slane said. “It travels.”
Roenigk’s story is intertwined with the preservation and stewardship of some of the city’s most recognizable historic properties, but her legacy reaches well beyond buildings. It can be found in organizations she supported, artists and writers she encouraged, community causes she championed, businesses she helped build, and people she mentored.
Guests were invited into the Fountain Garden, where Selena Parrish led a blessing of the trees. Two trees had been planted. One for Marty. One for Elise. The trees now stand as living memorials to two lives deeply connected to Eureka Springs and to one another—and as a reminder that what is planted today can continue to grow for generations.
Following the blessing, Jack Moyer concluded the celebration by thanking the many employees, friends, organizations, and community partners who had supported Elise, Marty, and the hotel family through the decades.
Moyer reflected on the remarkable span of what he called the “Roenigk era”—a chapter that began in the days of landline telephones and fax machines, before the Internet, and concluded with the gathering that day. He thanked those who had been part of that journey and reminded those gathered that while an era had ended, the impact of Elise and Marty Roenigk would continue through the people, places, and organizations they touched.
Perhaps the most fitting memorial left the celebration not planted in the ground but tucked into hundreds of pockets—small angels carried out into Eureka Springs and beyond, waiting for the moment when someone notices another person who needs one.
In that way, the story of Elise Roenigk continues, one small act of kindness at a time.