Rorey Hipps Obituary – Some people pass through a city. Others become part of it. Rorey Hipps — skateboarder, bartender, friend, and Asheville, North Carolina fixture — was absolutely the second kind. News of his passing on May 10, 2026, hit the mountain city like a gut punch. And if you’re here looking up the Rorey Hipps obituary because you knew him, heard about him, or simply want to understand why so many people are heartbroken right now — you’re in the right place.
This is a tribute to a man who meant everything to the people around him. And it’s written for everyone who wants to know who he really was.
Who Was Rorey Hipps? The Man Behind the Legend
A Personality That Filled Every Room
There’s a certain kind of person the world produces rarely. The kind who doesn’t walk into a space and wait to be welcomed — they just start welcoming everyone else. Rorey Hipps was that person.
He had an infectious smile that people talk about over and over in their tributes. Not a polished, practiced grin. A real one. The kind that made you feel like he’d been waiting specifically to see you. His loyalty to the people he cared about wasn’t seasonal or conditional. It was just there, steady and constant, year after year.
Friends describe him as someone who “lit up any room he was in.” That’s a phrase people say a lot about people they’ve lost. But with Rorey, it keeps coming up in testimony after testimony, message after message — independently, from people who didn’t coordinate. That means it was simply true.
The Nickname “Mark Smallberg” — What It Meant
Many people in Asheville knew Rorey by another name entirely: Mark Smallberg. If you came across this obituary searching that name, you’ve found him. The nickname stuck the way nicknames do in tight-knit communities — naturally, affectionately, until it became as real as the name on his driver’s license. It says everything about how deeply embedded he was in Asheville’s culture that he had an alter ego the whole city recognized.
Rorey Hipps and Asheville, NC — A Story That Began in 2012
How He Became a Fixture in the Mountain City
Rorey arrived in Asheville around 2012, and it didn’t take long for the city to claim him as its own. Asheville isn’t the kind of place that welcomes everyone immediately — it’s artsy, independent, and a little proud of its weirdness. But Rorey fit right in. Actually, he thrived.
Over the years he put down roots in two of Asheville’s most tight-knit worlds: the skateboarding scene and the service industry. Those communities overlap more than people outside them realize. Both value authenticity. Both reward people who show up. Both are built on trust. Rorey embodied all of it.
Building Friendships That Crossed Every Community Line
What made Rorey genuinely special wasn’t just that he belonged to these communities — it’s that he connected them. He’d be at the skate park on a Saturday afternoon, then behind the bar that evening, and the same warmth carried through both. People who met him at Push Skateshop ended up becoming regulars at the bar. People who met him at the bar ended up learning to skate. He was a human bridge.
“He made everyone feel like they belonged,” one friend wrote online. That’s not a small thing. In a world where a lot of people are just looking out for themselves, Rorey was actively looking out for everyone else.
The Skateboarder Who Made the Park Feel Like Home
His Deep Roots at Push Skateshop
Push Skateshop sits in downtown Asheville and has long been the beating heart of the city’s skate culture. It’s more than a shop — it’s a community center on wheels, where kids learn their first tricks and veterans talk shop for hours. Rorey Hipps was woven into that fabric completely.
He wasn’t just a customer or an occasional face. He was a presence. He spent hours at Push — not only skating, but genuinely investing in the community. He’d talk to kids who were just starting out, encourage people who were struggling, and celebrate when someone landed a trick they’d been chasing for weeks. That kind of energy doesn’t come from obligation. It comes from someone who genuinely loves where he is and who he’s with.
How Rorey Inspired Everyone from Beginners to Pros
One fellow skater put it simply: “Rorey made skateboarding fun. Not competitive. Not intimidating. Just fun.”
That’s more significant than it sounds. Skateboarding can be an intense culture. It has its gatekeepers and its hierarchies. But Rorey wasn’t interested in any of that. He skated for joy, and that joy was contagious. Beginners didn’t feel embarrassed falling in front of him. Veterans felt reinvigorated. He had a way of making the whole session lighter just by showing up.
That’s a legacy. That lives on in every person who came to love skateboarding because someone like Rorey made them feel like they belonged on that concrete.
Tributes Pouring In from Across the Southeast
Word of Rorey’s death spread fast — not just through Asheville, but across the whole region. Skaters from Charlotte, Greensboro, and even across the Tennessee border have shared tributes online, recalling sessions with him, the laughs they had, the kindness he showed people who were basically strangers.
“Asheville lost a legend today,” one post read. “He was the guy who would give you his last dollar if you needed it. He was the guy who would drive you home at 3 a.m., no questions asked.”
That’s not a skateboarder. That’s a friend of the highest order.
Behind the Bar at Barksdale — Rorey the Bartender
Why Regulars Loved Him Before They Even Ordered a Drink
Rorey Hipps worked as a bartender at Barksdale, one of Asheville’s beloved local spots. And if you’ve ever been to a bar where the bartender genuinely makes the night — where you go back not just for the drinks but because of the person behind the counter — then you understand what Rorey gave that place.
He remembered names. He remembered your drink. He remembered what you told him last week when you were having a rough one. That doesn’t sound extraordinary until you realize how rare it is. Most people don’t feel truly seen in a crowded bar. Rorey made you feel that way without even trying.
A fellow bartender wrote: “We worked doubles together. We complained about customers together. We laughed until we couldn’t breathe together.” That kind of bond forms in the trenches of hospitality, and it’s real and deep.
The Rare Gift of Making Strangers Feel Like Friends
There’s a philosophy behind great bartending that a lot of people don’t appreciate: you’re not just serving drinks, you’re holding space for people. Rorey understood that intuitively. On any given night, someone might be celebrating, someone might be grieving, and someone might just need a little human connection. He could read the room, shift gears, and give each person exactly what they needed.
That’s not a job skill. That’s a character trait. And it made him beloved across both of the communities he served.
The Community Responds — Grief, Memories, and Support
Social Media Flooded With Tributes
Since news of Rorey’s passing began circulating on May 10, 2026, social media hasn’t stopped. Photos of him skating, laughing, surrounded by friends — shared hundreds of times. Messages written by people who don’t normally post about loss but couldn’t stay quiet this time.
“I don’t even know where to start,” one post read. “Rorey, you were one of the real ones. You showed up for everyone. You never made anyone feel left out. The world is darker without you in it.”
Another: “We lost a heart today. Not just a person — the actual heart of so many spaces in this city.”
These aren’t the words people type out of obligation. They come from genuine grief, from communities that are sitting with a hole they don’t quite know how to fill.
The GoFundMe Campaign — How You Can Help Traci and Kristen
A GoFundMe has been established to support Rorey’s family — specifically Traci and Kristen — as they navigate funeral expenses, travel costs, and everything that comes with sudden loss. That kind of financial weight hits fast and hard, and the Asheville community has responded with remarkable generosity.
If you want to help, the GoFundMe is linked through Push Skateshop’s official channels. Even a small contribution helps, and the comment section on that page has become its own kind of memorial — a place where people are leaving memories, saying thank you, and making sure the Hipps family knows how widely their son and brother was loved.
How to Honor Rorey Hipps’ Legacy Right Now
You don’t have to have known Rorey personally to honor what he stood for. Here are a few meaningful ways to carry his spirit forward:
- Support the GoFundMe. Find it through Push Skateshop’s social media. Whatever you can give matters.
- Go skate. Whether you’re a seasoned boarder or you haven’t touched a skateboard in years, roll one in his name. Find the joy he found.
- Stop by Push Skateshop. Grab a deck, some stickers, or just walk in and tell them you’re thinking of Rorey. That community needs support right now.
- Be generous behind the bar. Tip your bartender well tonight. Think of the people who make your local spots feel like home.
- Do one kind thing you don’t have to do. Check on a friend you’ve been meaning to call. Help a stranger. Pay for someone’s coffee. That’s very Rorey.
- Share his story. The more people know about the kind of human being he was, the longer his legacy lives.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rorey Hipps
Who was Rorey Hipps? Rorey Hipps was a well-known skateboarder and bartender from Asheville, North Carolina. He was a central figure at Push Skateshop and worked at Barksdale bar, where he built deep, lasting connections across the city’s creative and service communities.
What happened to Rorey Hipps? Rorey Hipps passed away on or around May 10, 2026. His death was sudden and unexpected. As of the time of this writing, official details about the cause of his passing have not been publicly released, with the family requesting privacy during this time.
Why was Rorey Hipps called Mark Smallberg? Rorey went by the affectionate nickname “Mark Smallberg” within the Asheville community. It’s the kind of name that forms organically in tight-knit social circles, and it stuck because it captured how fully he belonged to that world. Both names — Rorey Hipps and Mark Smallberg — are used interchangeably by those who loved him.
Where did Rorey Hipps work in Asheville? Rorey was a bartender at Barksdale in Asheville, NC. He was also a core part of the Push Skateshop community in downtown Asheville.
Is there a GoFundMe for Rorey Hipps’ family? Yes. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to assist Traci and Kristen with funeral expenses and related costs. It can be found through Push Skateshop’s official social media channels.
What is Push Skateshop in Asheville? Push Skateshop is a downtown Asheville skateboarding shop and community hub where Rorey Hipps was a beloved fixture. It serves skaters of all ages and has been a cornerstone of Asheville’s skate scene.
How can people honor Rorey Hipps’ memory? Friends and family have asked the community to contribute to the GoFundMe, visit Push Skateshop, skate in his memory, tip service workers generously, and simply practice the kind of consistent, quiet kindness that defined Rorey’s own life every single day.
Did Rorey Hipps have family in Asheville? Rorey’s family members Traci and Kristen are named in connection with the GoFundMe campaign. The broader Hipps family is described as deeply connected to the Asheville community and is grieving an enormous loss.
Asheville doesn’t forget people like Rorey Hipps. The city is too human for that, too rooted in the kind of culture he helped build. He wasn’t famous in any traditional sense. He didn’t have a record deal or a highlight reel. What he had was better — he had real, brick-by-brick relationships with people who genuinely loved him back.
That’s the legacy. That’s what doesn’t disappear.
Rest easy, Rorey. Asheville’s going to keep skating for you.