Family Life Surrounding the Motel Duties

 Picture of Jerold Bishop, in 1967. 

"Everyone in the family got into the place at the start. My sister Sue rode the desk during most of the days the first few years until she got married. My mother kept us fed and on schedule, later doing a shift on the desk after my sister got married and moved on. My other brother tackled the laundry with the woman who was part of the permanent staff; I got into that act as well. I ironed on a mangle-system and Alan folded sheets after they came out of the dryer for about three hours each morning. I can still fold a sheet (or towel) better than about anyone I know. It was years before no-iron sheets came out and even then we weren’t off the hook. We also hired a couple of university students each year who split the family room just off the office, doing alternating nights as the night clerks" - Jerold Bishop

Uncle Alan and my Dad during an off-moment in the family motel apartment.

"My problem was the outside. I cut the grass, clipped the hedges, and kept the place weeded and swept. I hated that part, by the way, because it was hot and sweaty work. Dad paid me $0.35 an hour, though and that made it all (almost) better." - Jerold Bishop

Aunt Thelma visiting with both cousins Linda and Andrea.

Kent, Thelma and their young family had recently moved to California for work, but still came back for regular visits, in order to help and keep in touch with the majority of family still living in the state. 

"The pool was a money sink as well. We had to meet county health standards which required us to install a fresh chlorination system and rebuild the entire pump system and filtration setup, and on and on. That part was the blindside, the one dad didn’t see coming I think. Yes, my young memory was in the dark because I wasn’t an adult and not part of all the process, but I recall some frustration. Kent did a good job getting it running finally and we made good friends with the county health inspector who taught us a lot as well. Later it became my problem as my older brother moved on, but he set the standard and got it going right during those first two years." - Jerold Bishop

 

The Family Apartment

Here, are the remaining pictures of the added on addition of the family apartment. As previously mentioned, this was a great comfort to my Dad and Grandparents, since they needed to remain largely on site for their patrons.

"View of one corner of our living room of our Motel apt. This was a most spacious, well planned and furnished apt. with a fantastic view." -C. Don Bishop

"After the first three years, it came down to just me and the folks. Kent and Sue were married and putting their lives together. Our middle brother Alan bailed out and joined the army. I was fourteen and by then I could do the laundry, make beds, work the counter and fix the air conditioner all in a day’s work. Well….close. Dad built us four more motel rooms over the one-story wing and finished that second story with a ‘penthouse suite’ where the three of us moved in and settled down to living when I was fifteen. A year later the folks gave me and the head night clerk a list of items to check each day, and they took off to visit my sister and her family (in Dallas) and my oldest brother and his family (in Santa Barbara). We ran the place for ten days and they had the first overnight trip away in five years." - Jerold Bishop

Fun side note... my Dad was the youngest of his siblings. Even though his life revolved entirely around school, church, and working all the odd jobs of the motel, he is still referred by his siblings as being "spoiled" because he also got to live in the greatest comfort provided by my grandparents, while all his older siblings were off in different parts of the country, and starting their lives and families. This perspective is all a matter of... well, perspective. Or, at least being the on the short end of being teased by siblings to this very moment.   

 

 

Motel Franchising

              One of the larger challenges my grandparents faced, was keeping the motel up to certain standards. If maintenance wasn't enough of a hassle, there was also the problem of keeping the motel within a franchise, in order to provide a customer-friendly standard that was dependable. Remember, this is back in a time where Yelp and Google reviews weren't even possible, and customer service relied heavily on either word of mouth, or of an excellent local reference.


"It was a lot of pressure. Business things went south…little things like being a member of the Best Western system. They dropped us at the end of the first year. They had kept the place listed on their system when Ruth was running it, out of sympathy (I’m convinced). When she left, they gave us a quick inspection, a gig list three pages or so long and a year to get it fixed up. That was a little un-realistic. Dad got a little bit of slack, but somewhere in the second year, we were out. That one hurt." - Jerold Bishop 

                 So, after being dumped by Best Western, which was and still is a huge franchise chain, my Grandparents were able to find another, more local chain that was headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the time, the franchise was small, only boasting a mere 32 motels in 1963, but quickly exploded by the year 1974, which totaled approximately 770 properties.
"The Friendship Inns" was the name, and that became part of their lifeblood in order to bring in more patrons throughout their time as owners. This alliance gave them the ability to be listed in Triple AAA tourist guides, along with their membership and meeting minimal standards of cleanliness, service, comfort, and integrity. 
This was also their listing in the Cache Valley phonebook, as recent as 1969, as a FRIENDSHIP INN AND KOFFEEHOUSE, regardless of their name still remaining MITCHELL MOTEL. 


                                          

Works Cited: 

1) Jackle, John A., Sculle, Keith A., and Rogers, Jefferson S.. The Motel in America. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Print. Pages 168-69.