Ms. Mary Whitaker Bailey Comes Calling

One day, as General Manager Kevin Runner worked on his reports and charts, he heard a light knock at his door, and looked up to see Ms. Mary Whitaker Bailey. A guest in the hotel, she had come to see him with a package under her arm and intentions of revealing her past.

He invited her to sit down, and soon she was sharing the story in a sweet Georgia cadence of another General Manager at the Hotel more than half a century ago. Her father, Barney B. Whitaker, came to life for Runner as Ms. Mary Bailey related how Whitaker had brought his young family to the island in 1948 to stay for at least the next two years. As they spoke, she gently opened the package and took out the collection of picture post cards and menus she had brought with her for this special conversation.

Both Runner and Ms. Mary knew the history of the club prior to 1948 and didn’t need to mention those events to each other. They both knew those matters by heart: the purchase of Jekyll Island by a group of millionaires mostly from the North in 1886; the halcyon days of the Club with members named Morgan, Rockefeller, Pulitzer, and the like; and the final days of the Club in the 1940s when members stopped coming to Jekyll Island. Runner was eager to know and Ms. Mary eager to tell about those two years, 1948-1950, and Ms. Mary’s father.

“Our coming to Jekyll Island to open the Jekyll Island Hotel, as my father chose to call it, was a family affair. Everyone in Georgia at the time knew about the squabble over how the island was to be run and by whom, whether it would be a state park, who would see to the buildings that needed to be upgraded and a causeway to be built. Decisions came slowly and were then reversed; committees met and plans often changed. But, it was generally agreed that the state needed to lease the island and the Club buildings in the interim. My father, Barney B. Whitaker, wanted to do that in the worst way.” As an accomplished hotel manager, Whitaker was selected from a number of men vying for the opportunity. If his family would agree, leasing Jekyll Island and opening the Jekyll Island Hotel would make Barney Whitaker very happy.

“There were lengthy conversations with the family,” Ms. Mary continued, “My father persuaded my mother, also named Mary, my teen-age brothers and me that this new adventure was irresistible. In a very short time, our belongings were packed inside our 1948 Buick Sedan, and it was time to go. In Brunswick, our car was shipped to the island along with our fishing boat. This alone was an adventure for this 16-year old girl.”

“As soon as we arrived, my father set to work,” Ms. Mary continued. “Jobs were assigned. My teenage brothers, Bob and Barney, Jr, were in charge of the Sandwich Room, and I was a part-time waitress in the dining room. Our father and mother did just about everything else at first. We all pitched in determined to make the hotel a success expecting that soon the causeway from the mainland would be constructed by the State of Georgia and a dependable electrical system would be installed. Although that did not happen while we were there, we all grew to love Jekyll Island.”

“My father was a great promoter. He had billboards created, and he hired an airplane to fly around the state trailing a banner that advertised, ‘See beautiful Jekyll Island.’ He organized a barbecue, invited hundreds of notables, and hired a band from the University of Georgia for the grand occasion. He purchased advertisements and ran a contest for a free vacation. Every 100th honeymooning couple could stay without charge. And, he ordered photographs taken to create thousands of picture post cards,” Ms. Mary said with a little smile.

As Runner listened to Ms. Mary Bailey’s words, he was struck by the many similarities between Barney Whitaker’s daily challenges and his own.

“I enjoyed working in the dining room,” Ms. Mary said. “The people were very interesting and quite polite. Let me show you this menu I’ve brought,” she said and handed one to Runner. Looking over the type written, somewhat faded descriptions of the menu items, he was interested to note that a full breakfast was well under a dollar. A choice of fruit or juice, eggs any style, pearl grits, and sausage, bacon or ham along with toast and coffee was available for a mere 85 cents. The four-course lunch menu was offered at $1.50!

“Days flew by, and it was soon time for the school year to begin,” said Ms. Mary.
“I was to start my junior year and would need transportation each day to the mainland to attend Glynn Academy. At first, my father arranged for me to take the ferry. It would drop me off and pick up passengers coming to Jekyll that day; at the end of the day, passengers came back to the mainland, and I would board the ferry for Jekyll. This continued for two weeks before my father decided the ferry was subject to the weather and not dependable, and he hired a plane. This did not work out well either as the pilot announced the soft field landings on Jekyll Island were too dangerous for him. For the remainder of the year, my father arranged for me to receive my education from a tutor. He was a wonderful father just as he was an excellent hotel manager.”

“We did enjoy Jekyll Island. It was and is so beautiful, so very interesting; however, when the lease was up, the family moved back to Augusta. Life moved on, we attended college, my father retired. Each of us had saved a few treasures from our days on the island. My father, who had saved all those post cards left over from his hotel advertising campaign, decided to put them to good use. Throughout my brother Barney’s military service, my father wrote to him nearly every day on the backs of those picture post cards. Barney kept them all. Those messages reflect the history of our family during that time, and are precious to us. Would you like to see some of those post cards?” Ms. Mary asked Runner. (See some of these picture post cards on the right.)

Barney Whitaker took those early first steps in the transformation of Jekyll Island from an exclusive millionaires’ club to the award winning resort and National Historic Landmark that it is today. He was the first General Manager to lease the facility and make a success of turning the former millionaire’s retreat into a viable hotel. As the story played out, Runner gained a new awareness of this part of the Jekyll Island Club Hotel’s intricate history and a familiarity with a kindred spirit.

The Whitaker family returns to Jekyll Island for many family occasions. In November 1987, Mary’s brother Bob and his wife celebrated their 35th Wedding Anniversary at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel in the Pulitzer Room. Thirty-five years earlier the couple had met in the Pulitzer Room when Bob was working and his future wife was visiting with a group of people. She had gotten chewing gum on her shoe, and Bob had helped her remove it. They kept in touch and eventually married.

Mother’s Day, 2009, Ms. Mary’s daughter, Lydia, from Chicago made reservations at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel to celebrate with her mother and other family members. The daughter had also arranged for the meeting with General Manager Kevin Runner for her mother to share her memories, the stories of the post cards and the menus, and some valuable insights into the life of a former General Manager of the Jekyll Island Hotel. Ms. Mary said they had a wonderful time.