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Invitations were delivered, inside fortune cookies, to the Tahoe-Incline Rotary Club about a month ago. Inside the cookies was a simple note: “Mr. George Whittell requests the honor of your attendance at the Thunderbird Lodge on May 15 at 6 p.m. Dress: Something interesting.”
Fifty-six club members and their guests arrived Thursday evening, many coming by the Party Bus which picked them up at the Lake Tahoe School. Bob Croke was kind enough to deliver the revelers to one of America’s great estates and the home that will forever be associated with George Whittell, who challenges Howard Hughes as one of the most eccentric and colorful of America’s wealthiest.
Bill Watson, manager and curator of the Thunderbird Lodge/Thunderbird Yacht pointed out to the Rotarians that “Whittell is the father of the East Shore and it is due to his vision that this side of the lake has been preserved.”
The guests arrived in all sorts of attire creating the type of eclectic guest list that only Mr. Whittell could assemble and invite to his home. They made their way down stone steps into the Old Lodge to be greeted by their hostess Sandra Richards, who hadn’t a clue where Mr. Whittell was; it was his house, his party.
The light on the evening’s event was magical; nothing short of perfect. It was as if Mr. George Whittell, in all his wealth, had the power to order up the weather, the colors of the sky, the special feel of the night, the lightness in the air. All was ever so right.
As Mr. Whittell would have it, his guests were first treated to his living room and The Blue Onion served everything from bottled water to martinis. Laughter and conversation filled the space and spilled out to the deck where Lake Tahoe showed her emeralds to all the guests.
Since Mr. Whittell still had not arrived, Bill Watson and Linda Dupin kindly split the guests up and led them through the “castle” and the stories of one man’s huge life.
By 7:30 p.m., the group was growing hungry (very hungry) and the hostess could no longer hold them off so they were lead into the Sunset Room for Chinese cuisine and some introductions by Bob Ellsworth, president of Tahoe-Incline Rotary Club, who by now had to fill in for Mr. Whittell. The tables were set with red tablecloths, black napkins and chopsticks. At first the centerpieces seemed very Zen: a simple vase with bamboo and black rocks arranged in certain meaning. Curiously, one oriental indoor shoe was also in the center of the table stuffed with colorful tissue. It sat as a lost piece of a puzzle, disconnected somehow.
Conversations raised and laughter became much sweeter as dinner went on, but the hostess grew concerned as Mr. Whittell remained absent, so she and Bob Ellsworth began a trivia game. This morning club began their responses rather respectfully, but as the game went on their were challenges raised against the hostess and her arbitrary rules. A break was made to allow some civility.
Wend Schaefer, dressed in an Outback sort of edge, entertained the rowdies to song, accompanying him on guitar. Dr. Schaefer is not only a genius, a generous gentleman, but quite a troubadour as it turns out. The game was continued, and Shrine Kuckhoff was able to hit the price per pound of a pork roast in 1940 right on target at 45 cents, giving her table 500,000 points. The game fell apart as the inequities of the rules became too much for the likes of Jim Ellis, Bill Dupin and Mike Menath.
Gary Lee’s table of eight was outraged, insinuating there was clear bias and perhaps even cheating going on. It appeared that Thalia Routsis had just too many of the right answers. Even Sue Welsch, the scorekeeper, grew uneasy with how points were being doled out, so she began her own system.
In the end, all were winners. As the prizes were the centerpieces and they were to be taken home to include the bamboo, one shoe and the black rocks. Some asked, “What am I to do with one shoe?” But Mr. Whittell was not around to answer; the guests had to look under their chairs to find a red “x” indicating that this was the “winner” of the centerpieces.
By 8:30 p.m., Bob Ellsworth looked around the room to find his group had grown quite tired, as it is the morning Rotary club which tends to rise early and retire early. And so they hugged and kissed one another, still asking in their exits what had happened to Mr. Whittell.
In an e-mail to the Rotarians the next day, Sandra Richards reported that in cleaning up with Jill Mulcahey, director of operations of Thunderbird Lodge, and the crew of the Blue Onion that Mr. Whittell indeed showed up asking about his guests as he was now ready to play some cards.
Fifty-six club members and their guests arrived Thursday evening, many coming by the Party Bus which picked them up at the Lake Tahoe School. Bob Croke was kind enough to deliver the revelers to one of America’s great estates and the home that will forever be associated with George Whittell, who challenges Howard Hughes as one of the most eccentric and colorful of America’s wealthiest.
Bill Watson, manager and curator of the Thunderbird Lodge/Thunderbird Yacht pointed out to the Rotarians that “Whittell is the father of the East Shore and it is due to his vision that this side of the lake has been preserved.”
The guests arrived in all sorts of attire creating the type of eclectic guest list that only Mr. Whittell could assemble and invite to his home. They made their way down stone steps into the Old Lodge to be greeted by their hostess Sandra Richards, who hadn’t a clue where Mr. Whittell was; it was his house, his party.
The light on the evening’s event was magical; nothing short of perfect. It was as if Mr. George Whittell, in all his wealth, had the power to order up the weather, the colors of the sky, the special feel of the night, the lightness in the air. All was ever so right.
As Mr. Whittell would have it, his guests were first treated to his living room and The Blue Onion served everything from bottled water to martinis. Laughter and conversation filled the space and spilled out to the deck where Lake Tahoe showed her emeralds to all the guests.
Since Mr. Whittell still had not arrived, Bill Watson and Linda Dupin kindly split the guests up and led them through the “castle” and the stories of one man’s huge life.
By 7:30 p.m., the group was growing hungry (very hungry) and the hostess could no longer hold them off so they were lead into the Sunset Room for Chinese cuisine and some introductions by Bob Ellsworth, president of Tahoe-Incline Rotary Club, who by now had to fill in for Mr. Whittell. The tables were set with red tablecloths, black napkins and chopsticks. At first the centerpieces seemed very Zen: a simple vase with bamboo and black rocks arranged in certain meaning. Curiously, one oriental indoor shoe was also in the center of the table stuffed with colorful tissue. It sat as a lost piece of a puzzle, disconnected somehow.
Conversations raised and laughter became much sweeter as dinner went on, but the hostess grew concerned as Mr. Whittell remained absent, so she and Bob Ellsworth began a trivia game. This morning club began their responses rather respectfully, but as the game went on their were challenges raised against the hostess and her arbitrary rules. A break was made to allow some civility.
Wend Schaefer, dressed in an Outback sort of edge, entertained the rowdies to song, accompanying him on guitar. Dr. Schaefer is not only a genius, a generous gentleman, but quite a troubadour as it turns out. The game was continued, and Shrine Kuckhoff was able to hit the price per pound of a pork roast in 1940 right on target at 45 cents, giving her table 500,000 points. The game fell apart as the inequities of the rules became too much for the likes of Jim Ellis, Bill Dupin and Mike Menath.
Gary Lee’s table of eight was outraged, insinuating there was clear bias and perhaps even cheating going on. It appeared that Thalia Routsis had just too many of the right answers. Even Sue Welsch, the scorekeeper, grew uneasy with how points were being doled out, so she began her own system.
In the end, all were winners. As the prizes were the centerpieces and they were to be taken home to include the bamboo, one shoe and the black rocks. Some asked, “What am I to do with one shoe?” But Mr. Whittell was not around to answer; the guests had to look under their chairs to find a red “x” indicating that this was the “winner” of the centerpieces.
By 8:30 p.m., Bob Ellsworth looked around the room to find his group had grown quite tired, as it is the morning Rotary club which tends to rise early and retire early. And so they hugged and kissed one another, still asking in their exits what had happened to Mr. Whittell.
In an e-mail to the Rotarians the next day, Sandra Richards reported that in cleaning up with Jill Mulcahey, director of operations of Thunderbird Lodge, and the crew of the Blue Onion that Mr. Whittell indeed showed up asking about his guests as he was now ready to play some cards.
