My first chance to watch the late Clay James in action was
when he was helping to preserve world peace from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1989.
James, the
long-time general manager of the state’s second biggest lodging complex, was
hosting U. S. Secretary of State James Baker and Eduard Shevardnadze, the
minister of Foreign Affairs for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, for
the world peace accords at the end of the Cold War.
The location during
a spectacular September period was Clay’s domain at Jackson Lake Lodge, nestled
below the Teton Mountains between Jackson and Yellowstone.
My good friend
Clay, 75, died Oct. 27.
Stories about the peace meeting
were told along with other interesting recollections during a celebration of
Clay’s life at his beloved lodge Nov. 5.
Over 400 of
his friends gathered in the main hall to toast a man whose life works affected
people all over the world.
Wyoming has
enjoyed an amazingly snowless October. On this evening it was snowing. The
normal view of the mountains visible through that giant wall of glass, well,
the view was dismal. We all knew the Tetons were there. Tonight a pesky
snowfall obscured the famous view.
Or as former
Teton Park Supt. Mary Scott said: “Clay is gone. It looks like he took the
Tetons with him.”
The
celebration was a huge success but involved a lot of last-minute good work
since the lodge has been closed for two months. One of Clay’s successors, Alex
Klein, announced: “This is how Clay would have handled this event. I hope we
are up to the task.”
The Grand
Teton Lodge Company is the state’s second largest hospitality operation behind
Yellowstone. It was Clay’s domain for 32 years.
He hosted
presidents, foreign leaders, governors, and celebrities and did it all with a grace
and professionalism that set standards that thousands of employees took with
them into future careers.
The workforce
at GTLC is seasonal. Most are young people getting away from home for the first
time. Young people from all over Wyoming and the world got their first jobs
there.
Clay found a
job for my youngest daughter, Amber. She
said standards were high and she was expected to be the “best employee” she
could be. Our daughter called us after and said Clay had often checked on
her. Her new job was public area attendant.
We agreed that
she would “be the best public area attendant” she could be. I asked her, by the
way, what kind of job is that?
“I’m cleaning
the restrooms,” she replied.
Many thousands
of young people worked for Clay. He and his wife Shay watched over them. Clay felt he was the luckiest man alive to be
working there in the shadows of the Tetons. He wanted all those young people to
look back on their GTLC times as the best times of their lives. And they were.
There are
people all over the world holding big jobs in the hospitality industry and
every other industry who learned about work from Clay. One example is Trey Matheu, who is executive
director of Operations of Xanterra, up the road in Yellowstone. He recalled working for Clay as pivotal to
his career.
I served with
Clay on the Jackson Hole Visitor Council, the Wyoming Travel Commission board
and the board of the Mountain AAA Auto Club over the past 26 years. We both with our wives Nancy and Shay were
looking forward to celebrating our 50th wedding anniversaries next
year. And we always enjoyed a good Scotch.
During the Nov.
5 festivities, Clay’s son Scott toasted his dad while folks passed out hundreds
of custom-made glasses with the GTLC logo plus Clay’s initials, which were
filled with a single malt, scotch shot. Scott led us in a wonderful toast to
one of the greatest gentlemen ever.
One of the
main organizers of Clay’s celebration was Joan Anzelmo, former public affairs chief
for Grand Teton Park. She reminded everyone that Clay was a former Eagle Scout
and she ticked off all the attributes of being a scout including “courteous,
brave, trustworthy,” but she also got a laugh when she reminded them that being
“thrifty” was also one of those attributes.
Clay loved nice things but he always had a good business head when it
came to making and saving money.
Joan wrapped
up the program nicely by referring to Clay as “a grand man, in a grand hotel,
in a grand park.”
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