This issue of 60 Plus features some wonderful, caring people.
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Mike Pallas, who leads the Valley View 4-H Club, works with youth living at Omaha Home for Boys. Jerry Meyer devotes several hours a week to the Nebraska Humane Society, and Carolyn Owen Anderson has been helping underserved populations create art for nearly 20 years.
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I'd like to talk about a story featured in Omaha Home. Reading the story on the Blackstone Hotel in this issue brings memories of my youth.
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Between my junior and senior years of high school I spent the summer in Omaha with my sister and her husband, Jacque and Bill Wiseman. They lived close to the Blackstone Hotel.
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Exaggerating my age, I applied for a job at the hotel. I was hired as an elevator operator for the 4 p.m. to midnight shift. Being from small-town Mankato, Kansas, this was an exciting experience for me.
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The hotel was an elegant setting with an air of excitement. The bellhops would ride my elevator to deliver flowers to the rooms of visiting celebrities. I loved seeing all of the ladies in their beautiful clothes and the stylish men, especially when there was an event on the top floor ballroom.
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In a column written by Robert McMorris of the Omaha World-Herald, Louis Szathmary said, “The Orleans Room was the most fabulous restaurant in the world.” Szathmary was an internationally recognized chef, food consultant, author of several cookbooks, and a charter member of the Wine and Food Society.
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There was a hallway lined with pictures of stars who had dined at the Orleans Room.
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Before leaving, I was offered a tempting position working with the social director. Alas, it was time to leave. I had a great summer.
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This letter first appeared in the September 2019 edition of 60PLUS in Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
