An Opportunity to be Better - Biographies
Daniel Roenigk
Daniel Julius Roenigk was born November 12, 1893 on a farm in Bloom Township in Clay County, Kansas. He was the son of
Richard and Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Schaffner) Roenigk.
He graduated from eighth grade in 1909 and attended Clay Center High School from 1909-1911. He took special courses in
agriculture, blacksmithing, horticulture and dairy farming at Kansas State Agricultural College from 1912-1913.
Roenigk served in the Navy during World War I. In 1918, he was shipped to France, where he worked at a communications
center near Bordeaux. He was in the Aviation Forces, the Lafayette Radio Station Detachment (also referred to as the High
Power Radio Detachment), the Guard Company, the Commissary Department and Recreation Department in the American
Expeditionary Forces. He returned home in April 1919.
He also served in a supply detachment in the Seabees during World War II in New Hebrides and Guadalcanal in the Pacific
Theater. He was discharged from the service in November 1945.
Roenigk worked in Morganville, Kansas at the Farmer's Store and Mellies Oil Co. for 25 years. He started Roenigk Insurance
and Income Tax Service in 1946 and was active in the business until 1980.
Roenigk as a sailor during World War I
He was the Morganville city clerk for 20 years and the township clerk for 10 years and served two terms as mayor of Morganville. His leadership during his time as mayor was instrumental in maintaining the relationship between his town and Fèves, France, the village Morganville adopted in 1948.
He married Lily Mellies on April 23, 1924, in Yates Center, Kansas. Son Ivan was born April 29, 1926, and daughter Barbara
on November 21, 1932. Ivan and wife Wilma had sons Richard, Dale and Donald, and Barbara and husband John Hart had sons Timothy,
Daniel and James.
In 1971, Dan and Lily Roenigk and their son and his family traveled to Fèves, where they were guests of Fèves
schoolmaster Henri Torlotting and his wife Mathilde.
Roenigk in 1949
Roenigk was a member of the Morganville United Methodist Church, Clifton American Legion, the Clay Center VFW, the World War I
Barracks and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Clay Center.
He died November 23, 1981 in Clay Center, Kansas and is buried in the Bloom Cemetery in Clay County, Kansas.