Employee Salute

Employee Salute

Mary Dickinson

Server for Logan’s Bar and Grill at Grouse Mountain Lodge

Employed for 22 years at Grouse Mountain Lodge

By Seth Eagleton

            I am jealous of Mary Dickinson. She enjoys her job more than anyone I have ever met. For the past 22 years she has worked as a server at Logan’s Bar and Grill at Grouse Mountain Lodge. It is rare to bump into someone that so obviously cares so much about the people around her. Mary is the exception. I think I heard her say “People are great” no less than 15 times in our short conversation. Many of the local folks that come in to eat make sure that they are seated in her area. A few seat themselves because they already know the area she is serving! “When people get up in the morning and come in for breakfast, they should feel better when they leave,” said Mary. With a mentality like that it is no wonder that people keep coming back. In fact, going out for breakfast at Grouse Mountain Lodge with Mary has become part of the experience of visiting Whitefish.

Positive comments come in all the time about Mary:

“I think I would drive the 4 hours just to have the salmon eggs benedict and I wish I could have brought Mary home with us. What a joy she was to have her wait on us both mornings. You guys are lucky she has worked there 22 years,“ said a recent guest via email.

“Mary made my day one morning when she served us. She is great!” said a guest via comment card.

Karen Baker, General Manager at Grouse Mountain Lodge, says that she receives at least one email/comment per week praising Mary.

Mary mentioned that when people go out to eat they should feel special, not just because of the great food but also because of how they are treated. “You get to host a party everyday!” says Mary.

One of her repeat customers is a gentleman that has been coming in with his sister on the days that Mary serves for the past 20 years.  Another local couple brings in their two children once a week and Mary remembers to take out their orange juice before she takes their order. Although she already knows their orders, she checks to make sure which type of latte for her and whether he wants toast that morning or not. “Those types of details make people feel special,“ says Mary. 

Grouse Mountain Lodge was purchased by Glacier Park, Inc. nearly two years ago and since then Mary has made sure to personally introduce her “locals” to any new members of the management team. She says that when they bump into each other at the store, at least they’ll recognize a face. That settles it; Mary wins the sweetheart-of-the-year award – hands down. For taking personal responsibility to make sure that everyone else feels so special and promoting the importance of community within Whitefish, we salute you!

Employee Salute - Kevin Adams

Employee Salute

Kevin Adams

By Seth Eagleton

 Winter Caretaker at Many Glacier Hotel.

Right about now, Kevin Adams is probably wondering what in the world he got himself into. As the new winter caretaker for Many Glacier Hotel, he will experience isolation and extreme weather found few places in the world. The only road which accesses the hotel closes for the season at the Glacier National Park entrance due to adverse weather conditions. Snow machines are prohibited inside Glacier National Park boundaries so his only way in or out is seven miles by snowshoe or cross country ski until the rangers re-open the gate and begin plowing the snow in late May. Until then he will be in charge of maintaining the facilities at Many Glacier Hotel during the winter months. 
I found it humorous that as prep for his new position Kevin purchased a copy of The Shining. In all seriousness he should have no shortage of duties to keep him busy over the coming months. One year a mountain goat wandered off a snowdrift onto the roof of the hotel and fell through the skylight. Yes, it snows that much! That goat still resides at the hotel, albeit mounted in a glass case. The harsh winters take a toll on the historic lodges of Glacier National Park so Kevin should have adequate chores to keep him from boredom.

                Prior to his career at GPI, he can tell you stories of traveling with Disney on Ice where he worked as the lighting and screen director, or the time that he rode in the “Hotter’n Hell 100” in Amarillo Texas with a 17-year-old Lance Armstrong. He likes to travel and has been all around the world. He is a people person and has made lots of friends across the globe.  He likes that he gets to see all of the “internationals,” as he calls them, on his home turf now that he has settled down here in Glacier National Park.

Kevin began his employment with Glacier Park, Inc. in the maintenance department of Lake McDonald Lodge in 2007. That’s where he shines. He became known as the “Guitar Guy” around Lake McDonald Lodge after picking up the instrument at the encouragement of Chef Josh Newman. He likes to jam with the other employees in the warm evenings of summer. He does what he can to encourage his fellow employees to not spend much time alone inside of their dorms but to take advantage of the opportunity to meet and get to know their co-workers from all over the world. Kevin grew up in Texas and says, “It’s hot in Texas. It’s not hot here. I moved here five years ago and have sweated maybe three or four times. I like that!”

We plan on sharing some of his pictures and posts from his experience this winter through our Facebook page and blog. His new job description is one that many of us are jealous of but would probably be leery to tackle.  Kevin, we hope to hear your exciting adventures during these winter months and for braving this challenge, we salute you!

Many Glacier Hotel and Mt. Wilbur

Employee Salute - Brooks McClintock

              

 Brooks McClintock began his tenure with Glacier Park, Inc. in the summer of 2011 as the Sous Chef at JammerJoe’s Grill and Pizzeria at Lake McDonald Lodge. For summer 2012, he took over as Sous Chef of Russell’s Fireside Dining Room, also at Lake McDonald Lodge. I recently had a few minutes to sit down with Brooks to get a few stories out of him.

                The things that make him tick are hiking, hiking, and did I mention hiking? In his first summer with GPI, he bagged 28 peaks. In 2012, he bagged another 30. One of the highlights from this summer was taking a solo trek up Longfellow Peak and encountering a Grizzly Bear charge. With all the safety training available and stories that you hear, it’s easy to get a pretty good mental picture of what something like that is going to be like, but Brooks said all of that disappeared as it became a reality for him. He let off a two-second burst of bear spray to create the recommended fog between the bear and himself, and dropped his pack to distract Griz so it didn’t finish its charge. It worked. So then what? Brooks says he escaped off into the woods a distance and waited until he didn’t hear the bear anymore. He then went back to retrieve his pack and had an adrenaline-charged hike back to the trailhead. Phew!

                This was not a one-pepper-spray-event-summer for Brooks. The next time the pepper spray came out, it was not his own, but belonged to another hiker on the trail. It was also not aimed from him, but at him! As Brooks was hiking out from Avalanche Lake, a vacationing couple was not paying much attention to their surroundings. He managed to pass the boyfriend uneventfully, but as he approached the headphone-toting gal, Brooks startled her. Showing off her quick-draw capabilities, she let Brooks have the brunt of her pepper spray in a four-second, full-face blast! He said that he kept his cool, and just started walking backwards to get out of the way. “I tried to not blink a lot, or wipe my eyes and face,” Brooks said of the incident. By the time he got back to the parking lot, the burning had subsided a bit. The couple arrived shortly behind him and wanted to help out any way they could. Brooks’ only request was for a cold beer, which they had in their car and were happy to oblige.

Kudos Brooks -- for your level-headed reaction to this less-than-awesome situation as well as your overall patient attitude, we salute you!

Lake McDonald Lodgehttp://www.glacierparkinc.com/lake_mcdonald_lodge.php

Employee Salute

Employee Profile: Todd Ashcraft

General Manager of Lake McDonald Lodge

By: Seth Eagleton

Employee Salute

We would like to introduce our readers to some of the stand-out members of our team here at Glacier Park, Inc. Check back for more of our Employee Salutes in the future. 

     There is something to be said about an employee who has the merit and perseverance to work their way up from the bottom of the ladder.  When you occasionally meet a manager who can claim this attribute, they are usually someone who genuinely cares a lot about those around them.  It doesn’t happen very often, but Todd Ashcraft is one of the elite few.  At times, people hold the position they do because they have learned the traits necessary to accomplish their responsibilities. With Todd, it’s easy to see that he is the General Manager of Lake McDonald Lodge because he is naturally hospitable.  Todd started with the company 18 years ago working in the laundry facility of Glacier Park Lodge. Since then, he has worked a number of positions throughout the park including bellman and transportation manager before reaching his current post as General Manager of Lake McDonald Lodge.

      I recently had a chance to visit with Todd as he gave a mini-tour of the Lake McDonald Lodge. One of the first things I noticed was that his staff felt comfortable interacting with their leader, which says a lot. And with all his time working in Glacier National Park through the years, you better believe he has some good stories to share. He mentioned a guest who awoke to a loose horse giving her the stare down through her window, and a staff member who had a stare down with a mountain lion outside of her dorm window! He mentioned that his biggest claim to fame (or infamy) was when he sunk his own boat twice in one week. The first time was because of an unknown leak, and he’ll take credit for that. The second time he passed responsibility off on a well meaning employee who disconnected the boat’s battery to avoid possible shorting out. Unfortunately, the bilge pump was relying on power from that same battery, and down went the boat again. Oops! 

     Most of the employees under his direction are college age and at a time in their lives when they are making some critical life decisions. He rejoices in the right decisions and cringes to hear of the poor ones.  He wants to see these kids do well. All in all, he is the kind of boss who not only knows how to work all of the positions he oversees, but isn’t afraid to jump in and get his hands dirty when needed. Todd Ashcraft, we salute you! 

Lake McDonald Lodge, the property that Todd oversees.