A week ago, I went on a road trip. Dorothy Morris — longtime supporter of HSDFF and of so many other local nonprofit / arts organizations — and I were headed up to the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at Gov. Rockefeller’s former cattle ranch at Petit Jean Mountain. More accurately, we were on a mission. Our goal was to meet with the team there to see if the Institute’s facilities would be suitable for a filmmaker retreat that we hope to organize during this year’s film festival. (More on that later, but the facilities were dazzling and the WRI team incredibly helpful and impressive.).
With an hour and forty-five minutes of beautiful, winding Arkansas road ahead of us, there was plenty of time to talk about various topics, including, of course, our fundraising prospects for 2026. At some point, Bonnie Swayze’s name came up. Bonnie, and her family’s company, Alliance Rubber Company (the last remaining rubber band manufacturer in the U.S. – right here in Hot Springs), have been very generous supporters of HSDFF for some time.
We talked about how nice it was of Bonnie last year to introduce us to her son Beau, who is a very successful talent manager in Hollywood, and how she encouraged him to help connect us to possible high profile guests for HSDFF.
We discussed how impressed we both were with Bonnie, as a pathbreaking businessperson, fundraiser, and just overall good Hot Springs citizen.
As the road wended its way through farmland and trees, we were both inspired by this sparkling spring day – the kind that makes you think there’s no place on earth like the Ouachita Mountains – and no place you’d rather be.
24 hours later, I received a voice mail from Dorothy. The first thing I noticed, even before I processed what she was saying, was the sound of her voice. It was not the strong, clear Arkansas-accented voice I am used to hearing, but scratchy and raw. It was obvious to me that what I was hearing was a Dorothy Morris that I had never known before: the voice of someone who had just been crying. When I did listen to the words, what she said was that her dear friend Bonnie had died and that she was very sad. She had known of Bonnie’s illness for some time, but the suddenness and finality of her death clearly cut very deep. When I called back, we discussed how shocking the news was, how we had just been talking about her, and about what a tragic loss this is.
For those of us who didn’t yet have the chance to get to know Bonnie well, we regret the lost opportunity for a deeper and longer connection; for those who did, the much more painful tragedy is knowing that this person is irreplaceable. Their loss will be unending, like a sun-drenched trip on a stretch of Arkansas highway that, on one glorious spring day, felt like it would go on forever.
To husband Bruce, son Beau, the rest of the Swayze Family, friends, and all those at Alliance Rubber, we offer our deepest sympathies; our thoughts are with you. Bonnie’s memory will live on.
-Ken