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Elizabeth Elting Rogers
Elizabeth Elting Rogers, a longtime resident of the East End, died in her sleep at her home in Bridgehampton on
March 7. She was 76.
Ms. Rogers, known affectionately as “Bumpy” or “Lysbeth,” was born in Chicago on October 23, 1936, to Winston Elting and Marjorie Horton. She grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, attended Chatham Hall and was a music major at Vassar College from 1954 to 1957. Her marriage to Bernard Fowler Rogers III, in that year, led her to transfer to the University of Chicago from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1958. That same year, she gave birth to her first of four beloved boys, Mark, Michael, Christopher and Paul.
Throughout her life, Ms. Rogers maintained a deep and abiding love of music and the arts. While raising her children on Chicago’s Near North Side, she taught piano, and served as a piano accompanist to ballet master classes with Maria Tallchief, the Lyric Opera, and dancer Carleton Smith. Later, after moving to New York, she continued her piano accompaniment at the American Ballet Theatre and then, in Bridgehampton, with Aras Ames, of the Conservatory of Ballet and Danse Arts. In addition to her musical pursuits, she was a co-founder and manager of the Lencia Boutique in Chicago and produced “People of the Wind,” an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature Film in 1977.
Her love of the East End began in the late 1960s, when she was introduced to its stunning natural beauty and its vibrant community of artists and writers. The South Fork allowed her to pursue her lifelong interests as a musician, gardener, writer, activist and adventurer. She was appreciated and loved throughout the community for her vibrant and unique spirit, her prowess on the piano, her annual jazz celebration for Barry Harris and her remarkable generosity. She was a regular attendee of the Ocean Zendo in Sagaponack, where she was an elder with the name “Baika” or “Plum Blossom.” Last Sunday, she was to have played the piano for the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bridgehampton.
Ms. Rogers was predeceased by her son, Mark. She is survived by three sons, Michael of Mt. Tremper, and Paul and Christopher, both of Sag Harbor; and her daughter-in-law, Li Kun Huang (“Wei-Wei”). She leaves two siblings, John Elting of Manhattan and Audry Elting of Illinois and a half-brother, Lach Elting of Mexico.
A memorial service, officiated by the Reverend Peter M. Larsen, will be held on Saturday, June 1, at 2 p.m. in St. Andrew’s Dune Church in Southampton.
Memorial donations may be made to The Choral Society of the Hamptons, P.O. Box 1031, Bridgehampton, NY 11932.
on Mar 18, 2013