Friends enjoyed experience of lifetime during 50-year reunion at Jasper hotel
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Jeff Maguire
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EMC Lifestyle - Ed Larmour can't say enough about the way he and four friends were treated during a unique reunion of former student staff members at Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta.
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Five men, including two from Carleton Place, who participated in a special 50-year reunion at Jasper Park Lodge (JPL) in Alberta this spring are shown just before "returning to work" in the kitchen of the famous hotel. The men were teenagers when they spent the summer of 1960 working at JPL. They had an opportunity to relive the experience during a specially arranged tour of duty in the kitchen during the week-long reunion in April. Pictured, from left to right, are Cecil McVeigh of Ottawa, Francois Bouchard, chief steward at JPL, Dan Hudson of Carleton Place, Ray Fink and Doug Munro, both of Ottawa and Ed Larmour of Carleton Place. The reunion party traveled to Alberta by rail, replicating the long train journey they first made half a century earlier. On this occasion three were accompanied by their wives.
The Ottawa native and long-time Carleton Place resident was part of a truly original get-together in April. It came 50 years after he spent a summer as part of the kitchen staff at the famous Western Canadian tourist resort.
"The people at Jasper Park Lodge (JPL) were fantastic. They pulled out all the stops for us - they really did.
"When we got there we found our rooms had been upgraded. We all ended up in suites with fireplaces.
"We hardly used them though - we were rarely in our rooms. There was something on every minute of the day," he marvels.
"They (JPL) paid for two or three of our meals and senior staff joined us for the main reunion dinner.
"We couldn't believe it!"
The group of eight, five former staffers and three of the men's wives, began their 10-day adventure by replicating the rail journey that took them from their Ottawa homes to an unforgettable summer in the Rocky Mountain community in 1960. All of them were in their teens.
The highlight of the venture was the opportunity to turn back the clock by reprising their roles from half a century ago. For one incredible day the five Eastern Ontario residents once again worked in the kitchen at JPL, an experience Larmour says they will never forget.
"It was amazing," he enthuses. "We found that as much as most things change, some things never do."
The five (a sixth man was unable to make the trip for health reasons) were outfitted in uniforms which had been prepared in advance by the hotel. They also wore special baseball caps which read, "Summer of 1960 Jasper Park Lodge 'Work-for-a-Day' 50 Year Reunion."
They were even paid for their endeavors - at 1960 rates! A facsimile cheque was issued to each of them, 50 years after they earned their first wages at the famous hotel.
"It was incredible to step back into the kitchen 50 years later," Larmour admits.
"It's a great place to work though. The ambience and the attitude (of staff) is really good.
"Even the dishwashers enjoy their jobs."
The men's own enjoyment of the special occasion is written on their faces in a photograph taken by a reporter from the local community newspaper 'The Fitzhugh.' A large feature on the men's "adventure" appeared in the April 15 edition of the Jasper paper.
Also making the trip were Dan Hudson, who like Larmour is retired and living in Carleton Place, along with Ottawa residents Doug Munro, Cecil McVeigh and Raymond Fink. As mentioned, three of the men were accompanied by their wives with Ruth Larmour, Betty McVeigh and Fern Whyte (Hudson's spouse) accompanying their husbands on the Western Canada adventure.
The hotel is now owned by the Fairmont group of hotels. Fifty years ago it was owned by Canadian National Railway (CNR).
MEMORABLE VISIT
Fink told the Jasper newspaper the memories flooded back!
"The memories came back quickly, because it (work experience) was exactly what I was doing (50 years ago). I was taking the dirty dishes and putting them through the dishwasher.
"After three weeks your fingers got used to the heat. You could pick up a really hot plate."
Larmour recalls that the six friends all slept in bunk beds in a one-room cabin. Today, by comparison, staffers each have their own cabins or rooms.
The group spent most of their week in Jasper touring the hotel, its expansive property and the town itself. They also made some excursions in the surrounding area, including a trip into nearby British Columbia. That experience allows McVeigh's wife to say she has visited every Canadian province.
"We visited nearby Pyramid Lake and Athabaska Falls in Jasper National Park," Larmour adds.
Although they found many changes in the community itself the men quickly fit in. They even went to coffee with a group of Masonic Lodge members who meet regularly at a Jasper restaurant. Larmour is a Mason.
"It was just like our group at Timmy's (Tim Horton's) in Carleton Place," Larmour laughs.
The wives sometimes had a separate itinerary, including a visit to the Jasper museum.
Reunion members very quickly took on celebrity status at JPL.
"When people (guest and staff) saw our ball caps they stopped and talked to us about what it was like at Jasper Park Lodge 50 years ago," Larmour says.
There was even an easel set up in the main lobby with the men's photos and an explanation about their special reunion visit.
He says current staff was amazed at how many changes have taken place in a span of five decades.
"It was quite emotional for everybody actually. It was great for staff too," JPL general manager Amanda Robinson told The Fitzhugh.
"The funny thing was, one of the guys said when we were having lunch in the staff cafeteria it was fascinating to him that the smells, sights and sounds were identical to 50 years ago.
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not," Robinson laughed when she spoke to The Fitzhugh reporter.
McVeigh recalls the strict rules that were in place in 1960 saying that talking to a paying guest "was a firing offence." Employees had their own entrance to the hotel.
He also told the Alberta paper the young men supplemented their income ($52 for a 48-hour work week) by shagging golf balls on the hotel course. A bag of balls netted the finder $5.
TEACHER'S IDEA
All six were students at Ottawa Technical High School when the idea of a summer working at the Alberta hotel was first broached.
"These are six guys, all taught by the same teacher, who all went into the (commercial) printing trade.
"We're all retired now."
It was Ottawa Tech teacher Doug Gray who told his students about the available jobs in Western Canada. They had hoped he too would be able to make the reunion journey. But unfortunately that didn't happen.
"Doug is 82 now and he has some health issues which prevented him from going," Larmour told the EMC.
While most of the teenagers worked in the food service section of the massive hotel complex Hudson, the oldest of the friends at age 19, enjoyed a warm-up for his future career.
"I printed the (daily) menus for the dining room," he explained recently.
Larmour began working in the kitchen. Later he was moved to "the silver room."
He spent his work days polishing thousands upon thousands of silver eating utensils.
"The silver (ware) was cleaned and polished between every meal.
"That was my job!"
In April he had the opportunity to revisit the role.
"They (staff) found some teapots for me to shine. I did my old job," he chuckles.
For a 16-year-old the summer in Jasper was a major coming of age experience for Larmour. It was for each of the young men.
At the end of their three month summer adventure, in early September 1960, the return journey to Ottawa was paid for by the railway company who employed them. Travel was by coach car, meaning they sat up or dozed in their seats for the entire three-day trek.
Larmour, an Ottawa native has lived in Lanark County for 40 years, settling in Carleton Place in 1975 after five years at Innisville. He owned and operated the Carleton Place printing company A&B Graphics for 14 years. He started his printing career at the former Ottawa Journal daily newspaper and later moved to R.L. Crain Business Forms in Ottawa.
Some of the men from that long ago summer in Jasper went on to jobs in the newspaper business, specifically with the Ottawa Citizen. Munro and Hudson spent their entire working careers at The Citizen.
McVeigh and Glen May (he was unable to make the trip in April) worked at a number of printing firms including R.L. Crain, Mutual Press and British-American Banknote Company. Fink started in the trade but eventually went another direction and enjoyed a long business career.
For Larmour part of the excitement of the reunion was the opportunity to travel across country by train. An admitted "railway buff" he has made similar journeys 23 times. He began taking train trips to Jasper in 1978.
Since 2002 he has made the cross country rail excursions with VIA Rail twice a year, every year and has no intention of stopping.
"I'm going back out (to Alberta) in November."
Larmour and Carleton Place friend Hudson has taken many different passenger rain journeys across North America. They have also made the Jasper run together on seven occasions.
"For me a holiday starts when I board the train," Larmour says.
He doesn't take credit for the reunion idea, although he was instrumental in organizing it.
"It was a Fairmont employee at the lodge - Desiree Gittens - who actually suggested it.
"That was in October 2007."
During one of his regular visits to the popular hotel, with its lakeside location and stunning views of the Rocky Mountains, Larmour spoke to the then reservations agent. Gittens, who has since moved into an executive position at the hotel, was intrigued by Larmour's youthful adventures at JPL.
They struck up a friendship and it was her who eventually suggested the reunion, complete with the one-day work experience.
"We planned this for more than two years," Larmour explains.
Summing up the experience he notes, "That summer was a very special time in our lives. Reliving it was wonderful."
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