Keiths view recently donated portrait of dad

Xyta Lucas unveiled a special gift Thursday, June 25, for Gene and Josephine Keith at the Bella Vista Historical Museum.

A docent at the museum, Lucas surprised the Keiths with a portrait of Gene's father, E.L. Keith, who owned and operated the Bella Vista resort from 1952 to 1963. The portrait is the capstone to an exhibit at the museum dedicated solely to E.L. Keith and his years in Bella Vista.

Lucas said the painting was donated by Charles Harp, son of E.L. Keith's second wife. The painting was commissioned by Ouachita Baptist University, a religious university in Arkadelphia. Keith made several monetary donations to the school, Lucas said.

"We appreciate the exhibit very much," Josephine Keith said, who noted that her father-in-law's ownership of Bella Vista is often overlooked. "We really appreciate all the work Xyta has done. The museum just gets better and better all the time."

Lucas said she was pleased the Keiths were able to see the unveiling in person.

"I was really excited the family was here to visit," Lucas said. "I enjoyed seeing their reaction to the exhibit that we have and it was really fun to listen to Gene talk about what he remembered when his dad owned the resort."

E.L. Keith's tenure helped revitalize a sagging resort. Before coming to Bella Visa, Keith had lived in Cave Springs, where he ran a successful fish hatchery, according to the museum.

Taking over in the 1950s, when families were spending less of their summer vacations only at one place, Keith sought "changes that would attract ... families with lesser means," according to the museum.

A pious Baptist, E.L. Keith abhorred dancing and drinking. So he remolded the dance pavilion on Lake Bella Vista into a roller-skating rink. He also modernized the swimming pool, built a grocery store and miniature golf course, and dredged the lake so it could be used for recreation, according to the museum.

E.L. Keith turned the Sunset Hotel into a fledgling school, leasing the building for the Baptist Institute of the Ozarks, and added a horseback riding program to Bella Vista's long list of activities, according to the museum. Keith also built a home on Skyline Drive, which still stands today.

By 1963, when E.L. Keith sold Bella Vista to John A. Cooper, Sr., he had increased the resort's acreage by more than 400, nearly equal to what he originally purchased, according to the museum.