After serving his funeral apprenticeship in Missouri, Denver Roller and his wife, Christine, moved to Mountain Home, Arkansas as newlyweds to work for McClure Funeral Home.  The early forties were tough times; the effects of the Great Depression were still lingering in rural Arkansas.  However, Denver and Christine managed to buy the McClure Funeral Home and soon had a baby daughter, Sue.  They practiced the principles of honesty, loyalty and concern for others that built a strong family and would cause their business to prosper.

World War II placed a large burden on Denver, the only mortician in the area, and the whole community worked together with the Rollers to care for those who lost their lives during those difficult times.  The support from the community earned eternal gratitude from the Rollers, who have always tried to give back more than they received.

The Rollers acquired Drummond Funeral Home in Little Rock in the mid-fifties and, in the sixties, Citizens Funeral Home in West Memphis and McNutt Funeral Home in Conway.  McNutt’s motto, “To serve as we would be served” was established to guide each local director in the principles of operation for that local funeral home.  Denver united his businesses under the symbol of an ascending white dove on a blue background.  These attempts to build a caring organization proved successful, and soon quality funeral directors around the state were joining under the white dove and the type of service it represented.

Denver Roller was a man of great vision: he established Arkansas’ first crematory in 1974; he created the Assured Peace Funeral Plan, which, today, is the leading prepaid funeral plan in Arkansas.  Over 45,000 people have prearranged and prepaid their funeral with Assured Peace.

At Denver’s death in 1985, there were 13 funeral homes and five cemeteries operating under the principles he and Christine had established and which Christine continued from her position as Chairperson of the Board.  The Roller’s daughter, Sue Roller Jenkins, and her husband, Lynn, built Citizens Fidelity Insurance Company into one of the state’s largest domestic companies; its mission being to help Arkansas citizens prepare for the costs associated with death.  Sue is the Secretary of the Roller Burial Associations and also serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the funeral homes, while Lynn is their Executive Vice President.

Bill Booker, President of both the funeral homes and the insurance company, was born in Jonesboro and is a 1973 graduate of Arkansas State University.  He has been with our organization since 1981.  After Roller’s 1996 acquisition of Ballard Funeral Home in Benton, Steve Ballard joined the home office staff and is now the Vice President of Operations.  In 2001, Tom Compton, a 1990 graduate of Ouachita Baptist University, became a part of the home office staff and is the Vice President of Finance of both the funeral homes and the insurance company since June 2012.

Roller Funeral Homes are owned entirely by the Roller family.  The family is determined to maintain Roller Funeral Homes as a family business; the Roller family caring for families in the communities they serve.  Christine’s granddaughter, Renata Jenkins Byler, is Vice President of Facilities and Marketing for the funeral homes and Secretary of the insurance company.  Renata’s husband, Tim Byler, is Vice President of Management Information Systems for the funeral homes and also Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of the insurance company.  The owners and officers are all committed to transferring the same values and principles established by Denver and Christine to future generations.  It’s referred to as “Family Values with Professional Management.”

The Rollers are strong believers in education, supporting many universities around the state.  They were instrumental in helping establish the school for embalming at the ASU Mountain Home campus.  They are also interested in health care, supporting hospitals around the state.  Sue serves on the ASU-Mountain Home Advisory Board.  Lynn is active with the Board of Baptist Health Foundation and Phillips Theological Seminary.  Renata serves on the Board of the Arkansas Funeral Directors Association, and with Tim, are both actively involved in local church and civic organizations. Bill, a CPA, serves on the Board of the American Diabetes Association and the Arkansas Life and Disability Guarantee Association; his peers elected him Arkansas Funeral Director of the Year in 1992.  Steve serves on the Board of the Counseling Clinic, Inc. in Benton and Junior Achievement in Little Rock.  Tom serves on the board of the Better Business Bureau of Arkansas and is actively involved in local church and civic organizations.

The Rollers work hard to instill the values and principles established by their predecessors.   The success of these efforts was evidenced when the Office of the Governor, Division of Volunteerism, and KATV Channel 4 awarded their employees with the Corporate Humanitarian Award for 1997.  Roller has been chosen as Arkansas’ Best of Central Arkansas in the readership poll of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette since 1999, and was a finalist as the Arkansas Business of 1999 by Arkansas Business.

Currently, our firm operates 28 funeral homes, 9 cemeteries and 2 crematories over a large portion of Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee.  A long way from the humble beginnings in the 40’s but still “serving as we would be served.”  The following are current locations:

Roller Burial Association has over 17,00 members with a reserve factor of 10.3, almost 50% greater than the recommended factor 7.0.  Citizens Fidelity Insurance Company currently has assets of almost $50 million and insurance-in-force of over $165 million.