R.C. Glenn was good with names.
After working at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Akron for more than three decades, he estimated that he could identify more than 8,000 guests.
He greeted them as they arrived and bade them farewell as they departed, serving as an unofficial ambassador for the city.
“People appreciate getting this attention and they appreciate it when someone remembers their names and makes them feel at home,” he explained.
The ironic thing was that few people knew his name.
Most called him “Captain” or “Captain Glenn,” a nickname based on his former title as bell captain of the first-class hotel.
Mayflower Hotel opened in 1931
The North Carolina native was 29 when he joined the 400-employee Mayflower a week before the 16-story, $2 million landmark opened May 18, 1931, at 263 S. Main St. Previously, he had worked at the Portage Hotel at Main and Market streets.
For the record, he was born Roosevelt Clinton Glenn in Winston-Salem.
“It isn’t that I don’t like it,” he once told the Beacon Journal. “It’s just seemed like such a long name that I’ve never used it.”
The blue-uniformed bellhop was courteous and efficient as he assisted Mayflower guests. He carried luggage, pointed out amenities, explained services, and fielded questions about Akron.
After a year, he earned a promotion to bell captain at the 450-room hotel. In 1940, he rose to superintendent of service, where he oversaw a bustling staff of 25 bellmen, doormen and elevator operators.
For decades, the Mayflower served as Akron’s center for banquets, receptions, conventions, meetings, dances and other gatherings.
Glenn made sure that the hotel operated smoothly. Stationed in the lobby, he ironed out problems as they arose.
When a guest forgot to pack a tie for an important dinner, Glenn borrowed one from a waiter. When a guest neglected to bring dress shoes, Glenn rummaged around the lost-and-found department and found a pair that fit.
A woman jokingly asked him if he ever had to procure a girdle for a guest.
“Not yet, ma’am,” Glenn replied. “But if we had to, I’m sure we could.”
Famous guests at Akron hotel
The captain assisted everyone from everyday folks to world leaders.
Among the Mayflower’s famous guests during Glenn’s 33-year tenure were President Harry Truman, aviator Amelia Earhart, Gen. George Marshall, Graf Zeppelin commander Hugo Eckener, Liberian leader William Tubman, the 1937 New York Yankees and Hollywood stars such as Shirley Temple, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Fred Estaire, Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
Glenn’s two favorite visitors were first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1937 and Vice President Alben W. Barkley in 1950. Both treated the staff warmly.
“They both were so down-to-earth,” he recalled.
Bellhops sized up guests
The Mayflower bellhops sized up guests as soon as they walked in the lobby. Salesmen were usually in a hurry. Businessmen were more easygoing. Convention delegates were happy-go-lucky.
Newlywed couples were easy to spot. The bride usually looked over the groom’s shoulder as he signed the register at the front desk. Another telltale sign: They both wore brand-new shoes on honeymoon.
Some customers were just plain grouches. Glenn usually could disarm them with his genial personality. He remembered only one time when he spoke up to a guest.
The rude fellow was trying to locate a bellhop who had assisted him earlier. When the captain politely asked for a description, the guest blew up.
“How do I know what he looks like?” he growled. “You bellhops all look alike to me.”
“Well, sir, most guests look alike to us, too,” Glenn fired back. “But we try to treat them as individuals.”
Sheraton buys Mayflower
The Sheraton chain bought the locally owned hotel in 1955 and changed the name to the Sheraton-Mayflower before shortening it to the Sheraton Hotel in 1957.
By the early 1960s, Glenn was one of the last original employees. Only Helen Huber, the chief telephone operator, had worked there with him since the hotel’s opening.
It was time to check out.
At age 62, the captain announced that he would retire May 22, 1964, after 33 years. He and his wife, Johnnie, were moving to St. Louis to live closer to their daughter, Jacqueline, and assist her husband, Lawrence Woodson, a licensed mortician, in the funeral home business.
The captain acknowledged that he would miss the guests. Especially the 8,000 whose names he remembered.
“The public as a whole expects the same type of service it did when I started,” he told Beacon Journal reporter Marvin Katz. “I’ve always looked on it as not only giving service, but being in the selling end — pointing out the dining facilities and offering the laundry and valet service.”
‘A sincere, trusted, loyal friend’
V. Ward Bennett Jr., general manager of the Sheraton, hailed Glenn as “one of the finest people I’ve ever known.”
“Considering the retirement of Captain R.C. Glenn, I honestly feel that the city, as well as the hotel, is losing a sincere, trusted, loyal friend; and certainly we consider his retirement as an end of an era for the Mayflower Hotel,” Bennett said. “Our heartfelt good wishes will be with him always.”
Nelson Waynesboro, a 17-year employee, succeeded Glenn as superintendent of service.
The Akron hotel continued as a Sheraton until 1969 when a New York company bought the building and restored the Mayflower name, but the landmark closed May 10, 1971, a week shy of its 40th anniversary. The owners blamed a slow economy, suburban flight and the popularity of motels.
The building stood vacant before becoming an apartment complex in 1973. Today it’s known as Mayflower Manor.
R.C. Glenn was 75 when he passed away Aug. 3, 1976, in St. Louis.
The captain had answered the final bell.
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Mayflower Hotel captain served Akron well | Local history
Reporting by Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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