As you zip down the end of Lower Chief, you may not even notice a trail cutting off to the right called Willie's Way. It heads down underneath the Sunburst Six line and deposits you just to the left of the lift base.
Willie's Way honors Willie Kennedy, a beloved lift attendant who started working at Okemo in 1994. On January 17, 2022, Willie collapsed on the job, and passed away shorty after. Bruce Schmidt, the General Manager of Okemo, wrote a moving letter about Willie for the Vermont Journal.
After a Facebook campaign, French Connection was unofficially, then permanently renamed to Willie's Way for the 2023 season. If you see someone with a gold sticker on their helmet with "W.K." on it, that's for Willie too.
But Willie's Way is not just a name for a trail. It's also a philosophy, or way of work that Willie embodied.
Posted in the Clock Tower Base lodge, in a long hallway to the locker room, is this story about Willie, written to inspire visitors and employees alike at Okemo. On top of it is a red trail marker that says "Willie's Way" that's similar to the one someone attached to the former French Connection trail sign to unofficially rename it.
It reads:
Willie's Way as a Model of Lift Attendant Performance
It's fun to celebrate Willie's Way as the trail that's a shortcut to the lift where Willie Kennedy ended his career but, more importantly, Willie will be remembered as the greatest Okemo "Liftie" of all time because of the exemplary job he did.
Willie's Way is actually a prescription of the way a responsible, friendly ski lift operator should be. This document is the start of a list of the ways he conducted himself to keep us safe, run the lift efficiently, and make us all feel welcome.
From a skier's perspective, he was always sharing an endless series of quips as he loaded everyone on. Here are just a few examples:
- "Right up here now, I saved this next chair just for you!"
- Chair number [whatever chair you're getting on], a very popular model
- I'm holding all your calls, and I'll have your latte ready next time around.
- Don't make me put the Christmas music back on.
- You got chair #[whatever chair you're getting on], that's my favorite #! (no matter what your chair # was)
- He even remembered people's favorite ice cream flavor, and would call it out to you as you loaded on the chair lift. If you asked for some, he might reply, "The back door is unlocked, turn off the lights when you leave"
- Don't ride with chumps
- Don't ski faster than your snow angels can fly!
- Do a lap for me.
- I saved the window seat for you.
- Have a good run I'll have the next chair waiting with your name on it.
- I have a heated seat specially for you.
There was a hidden agenda in this humor that was more than just adding to the enjoyable experience of the guests - it kept him alert on a job that is repetitious and made the work day more enjoyable for everyone on his team. The importance of alertness of a lift operator cannot be overstated!
His vigilance on the job was inspiring to his co-workers who all also admired the contagious positive attitude he exuded. He was a leader and his legendary fist bumps were shared with guests and co-workers alike.
Willie was a teammate to more than just other "lities." Summit restaurant workers, maintenance crew, and patrollers all experienced his attentiveness and effective communication skills. Whether you were loading with skis, a board, just boots, or a toboggan in your lap, he made sure you loaded safely, completely, and could unload just as safely.
He was a bottom attendant, but very effective with communication with the top. If someone loaded with plain footwear or a toboggan on their lap, he made sure the operator at the summit knew they were coming and which chair they were riding. Not all lift operators seem aware of the perils involved with transporting toboggans on the lift, but Willie made sure that the top operator knew when a patroller was riding "blind" with a sled in their face; they needed to be confident that the ramp was clear when they stood up at the top and with Willie that was a given.
The point is that Willie was on top of the job, and as he said, "I think I ought to have this job down by now." Best of all, he helped new recruits to the job master it as well. When a new teammate caught the poor load situation and stopped the lift immediately because they were "looking up the line," they got the fist bump approval and, if in their inexperience they were not quick enough to recognize the situation, Willie was backing them up and helping them realize how important "looking up the line" really was.
Willie's long time co-workers seem to have an endless list of other traits that made him so exemplary. Here are a few:
- "Willie was precise; his set up of cones, ramp, snow surface, signage, and daily log all had to be perfect."
- "He was not only fun to work with, he made the whole job fun."
- "His attention to detail made me notice the importance of the small things."
- "Willie was so focused he was always paying attention."
- "Even when the job got frustrating or things didn't go just right, Willie was still always kind."
- "Willie always was moving and he kept the rest of us moving as well - that kept us all more alert and that is hard to maintain in this job."
- "If I forgot to look up the line, Willie had subtle ways to remind me."
- "I always felt that Willie was looking out for all of us."
- "Willie really cared for people and that caring showed; he took care of everyone."
- "He was so jovial all the time, it was contagious."
To sum it up, Willie's Way is the way to do a job! There is no better way to honor Willie than to pass along his prescriptions for how to conduct oneself as a Lift Operator as well as how to approach any job with the right attitude, attention to detail, sense of humor, management skills, and kindness. We can best remember him by taking the same level of pride in any job well done.
Do you have a favorite memory of Willie? Share it in the comments below.
