Arizona School Yearbooks by County
Thalia Hosler Gondek was among the first Harvey Girls hired in Winslow in the summer of 1934. She had graduated from Winslow High School the year before and needed to earn money to go to nursing school.
"It was a fun experience. We met a lot of different people. It was a good education about people," she explained.
The head waitress was firm, but helpful and understanding. Thalia lived at home and earned $25 a month plus one meal a day. Her uniform was furnished.
One day, one of the two ice tubs by the kitchen door was leaking. Thalia was carrying plates of food for five of her customers when she slipped in the water and went sailing across the floor. The Manager, Omer Dooms, said, "Thalia s on the floor. Duplicate her order." Thalia went to change her clothes and returned to finish serving those same customers.
Another memorable occurrence happened when a lady accidentally hit the coffee pot with her folded umbrella. "The coffee spilled on the customer s clothes, so we wrote down her address and later paid her for having her clothes cleaned," recalled Thalia.
Thalia entered nursing school in California and graduated in 1938. She worked in the Los Angeles children s hospital. But after the war, she returned to Winslow and worked first for Dr. Wright at his private hospital on the corner of Warren and Third. Then she began working in the family business with her late husband, Casey, and their two sons, still using her Harvey Girl skills in working with the public.
Those Harvey Girls who worked the early morning shift had to make the coffee.
"I went in at 4 a.m. and was making the fresh coffee," recalled Ruby Gardner McHood, "when a male customer asked me Do you make good coffee", I replied, "I don't know. I don't drink coffee, so I just make it the way they tell me." He exclaimed, "Everyone who works for Fred Harvey drinks coffee!" I could only say "I'm sorry. I just make it," and kept working. Later a friend told me that had been Fred Harvey himself, but I didn't get fired."
Ruby had left her home in Snowflake, and she and another girlfriend had come to work at La Posada in 1935. Most of the time, Ruby worked the counter on the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift. Occasionally she served at one of the many banquets. "I was glad to work the middle shift. The early shift had to polish all that silverware every morning," she said with a sigh.
The Harvey Houses were famous for their hard dinner rolls, too. The girls weren t supposed to take food prepared for customers. The waitresses ate in a special room. One time in particular, though, Ruby remembers one of the border waitresses hid a plate of fresh sliced cucumbers under a towel on her arm and shared them with all the other waitresses during their lunch break.
Customers were usually polite. The girls had to be. One day, though, one of the waitresses named Ruth was called a vulgar name by a male customer. "Ruth was carrying a bowl of hot soup. She promptly threw it in the man s face and pointed her finger at him, saying, You or no one else can call me that and get away with it! Then she set the bowl down and sought the manager. The customer followed right behind Ruth spluttering all the way. The manager backed her up and made the customer apologize."
After 18 months, Ruby gave her resignation to the manager, Mr. Dooms. He asked her if she were getting married. "I guess I will," she replied. H.R. McHood and Ruby were married in 1937.
Dorothy Bailey Hunt came to Arizona from California in 1935 for a month s vacation. Then a friend of her parents asked her to work in her store in Navajo on Route 66.
After two years, Dorothy moved into Winslow and worked at the Liberty Cafe, then the Grand Cafe and then the White Cafe. Next she became a bartender at Cal Shop s Green Lantern Bar, then Bowling s Bar and then the Four Lanes Bar.
She met her railroader husband, Richard, in 1942. After they married in 1944, Richard bid for a brakeman s job on the Williams to Grand Canyon line, so they moved to the canyon.
Fred Harvey hired Dorothy as a waitress at the Bright Angel Lodge and at Le Tovar in 1947. She also wore the regulation white uniform when she worked the special parties after 8 p.m. for organizations such as the Shriners and the Elks.
"Also at these parties were beautiful ice carvings made by the French chef Marcel Fordeau to go with the elaborately prepared buffet meals, complete with a whole roasted pig or a 40-pound ham," explained Dorothy.
"Then I wore an Indian squaw dress and Navajo jewelry,: she explained, "and earned $128 plus tips every two weeks when I worked as a cocktail waitress and then bartender there."
One year Richard was bumped to Winslow and Dorothy became the bartender at the Bullring Bar in La Posada. Between 1953 and 58, they returned to the Canyon and Dorothy bartended at the Bright Angel again.
In September 1958, Dorothy and Richard Hunt moved to Winslow and built their home on Leonard Avenue. They became parents of Richard A. and, 18 months later, Leslie Kay (now Brewer). "I became a full-time mother," smiled Dorothy.
Richard S. retired in 1979 and they enjoy their family and many friends from more than half a century in Winslow.
