'GPI has been a gracious employer'

A longtime employee of Glacier Park Inc. is saying news reports of his “firing” are inaccurate and portray the company in a bad light.

While it’s true that Ian Tippet, who worked for GPI for 63 years, will no longer be an employee, he said the company has been very good to him.

“Viad (GPI’s parent company) has been gracious in allowing me to reside at Tippet Cottage and take my meals at the employee cafeteria,” he said last week.

The cottage is across the street from Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier, outside Glacier National Park.

“I met personally with Mr. Tippet, and know that he feels he can work forever, but for his own safety and well being, we can no longer allow him to work,” GPI president Cindy Ognjanov said in a letter to Tippet supporters. “I reassured him that as long as we are around, he will always be welcome to come to Glacier, stay in his cottage and enjoy the area.”

Tippet’s departure caused a bit of a row on Facebook when news about his employment status was first announced.

Tippet, 83, spent 25 years as the Many Glacier Hotel manager and human resources manager, but he actually retired in 1996 and has been contracted as a consultant in the Glacier Park Lodge mailroom since then.

Tippet said he was disappointed that he will no longer be allowed to work for the company — even as a volunteer. But the Englishman said he plans on returning to East Glacier, whether he has work or not.

During his tenure as manager, Tippet made sure guests at the Many Glacier Hotel were entertained. Singing bell men welcomed guests to the hotel, and nightly music performances, singing dinners and a full-scale Broadway production each summer were mainstays of the lodge.

Tippet said it was important to entertain guests, in part because the lodge’s accommodations weren’t all that luxurious.

“The walls were thin. There wasn’t an elevator. When it was hot, the rooms were as hot as Hades, and freezing when it was cold,” he said in a 2007 interview. “About half the rooms had lake views, but everyone wanted a lake view.”

Tippet’s philosophy was to get the guests out of their rooms and entertain them.

“We got around some of the deficiencies by giving the guests a great time,” he said. “The hope was that they’d say, ‘The room wasn’t right, but I had such a wonderful time I’ll forget it.’”

Tippet said he’s nearly finished writing a book about his experiences at the lodge and in Glacier Park.