Eloda Sitzer was born in Michigan in 1890. She began her acting career in Lansing, when she was “discovered” by her brother’s friends in a small touring theater company. There she met and married the actor, Guy Beach. While Guy served during WWI, Eloda continued acting on the stock theater circuit. She made her first visits to La Crosse as part of the Gifford-Young Company.
After the war, they established the Beach-Jones Stock Company, later known as the Beach Stock Company. Eloda, known locally as the “Little Redhead,” was very popular in La Crosse theater; the couple built a Spanish Colonial Revival-style house at 205 Losey Blvd. North. In 1924 they adopted their daughter nicknamed “Sugar” or “Baby Eloda.”
In 1931, Guy and Eloda divorced, and she was granted child custody and the family home. She and her daughter moved to Muskegon, MI where she continued to work in theater while attending the Muskegon Business College.
While performing in a summer stock tour she met Minnesota Senator William Roepke. They were married in 1935 and lived in Minnesota.
After his death in 1945, Eloda worked as a sales associate in a dress shop and later as an in-home care provider, but occasionally acted in Addison Aulger’s touring theater company.
After a brief marriage to Aulger, Eloda worked for nine years in Rochester, MN as a recreational director for the disabled at the State Hospital. She recalled these nine years as some of her most enjoyable years professionally. Her work influenced the construction of an activities center, which became an integral part of patient therapy.
In 1956 she moved to Albuquerque, NM to live with her daughter until her death in 1964.
Location: 205 Losey Boulevard North
1926: Home built by Guy and Eloda Beach
2019: Private Residence
Evening dress with lace train, c. 1925
A fairy-tale stage dress befitting an actress.
Materials: silk satin, beads, chenille, rhinestones, lace
From the collections of the La Crosse County Historical Society
Evening jacket, c. 1926-1929
Label: MME B Tabot Modes 154 W. 45th St. New York
Materials: silk satin, monkey fur, embroidery
From the collections of the La Crosse County Historical Society
