Vermont's palette of visitor experiences creates memories, albums, and tales that endure the test of time. Beyond the story are the people who are instrumental in creating those visitor experiences, working hard at making every encounter special, every day, for every person they meet. Vermont is fortunate to claim as its own a core of individuals who support the hospitality industry with unmatched spirit and love for their jobs.

Though they may not be readily noticeable, some of those individuals can be found at properties familiar to visitors, as well as Vermonters and Vermont businesses. Enter the Sheraton Burlington and one will encounter bell captain Danny O'Sullivan or bell man Afework Hogas. The company of waitress Connie Haldane is as flavorful as the chicken pie at the counter of the Wayside Restaurant & Bakery in Berlin. And before one has arrived, a lively sprite in housekeeping supervisor Belle Touchette has dispatched her crew to scrub, straighten, and dust the common areas and guest rooms at Stowe's Trapp Family Lodge.

Just as the Green Mountains form Vermont's spine, people like O'Sullivan, Hogas, Haldane, and Touchette are the backbone of Vermont's hospitality industry. In turn, the hospitality industry supports the state itself, where the latest available data show a total of $1.57 billion in direct spending by visitors for goods and services, contributing $196.4 million in tax and fee revenue to the state (Economic Impact of Visitor Expenditures on The Vermont Economy - 2005, Economic & Policy Resources, Inc).

In an industry where approximately 12 percent of all jobs, or 36,250 positions in the state of Vermont, are supported by visitor spending, service workers like O'Sullivan, Hogas, Haldane, and Touchette are the crown jewels of the hospitality industry, as well as the Vermont economy.

Together, they represent nearly two centuries of service to the hospitality industry, much of it, in Vermont, although three of the four individuals got their start elsewhere. O'Sullivan began his career at the age of 19 in Boston in 1960, working with his bell captain father at the Somerset Hotel, and subsequently at the Colonnade Hotel. He went to trade school and became a plumber in Boston's John Hancock Insurance building, but says had he not left plumbing, he would have "missed a lot in life."

O'Sullivan never received any formal service training, but remembers his father telling him, "You be yourself and everyone will have trouble keeping up with you." Three decades later he married a native of Burlington whose family knew Gene Cenci and Gary Farrell, then owners of the Sheraton Burlington, and there he has become a fixture since 1990.

Hogas came to Boston from Ethiopia at the age of 18, where he was a radiologist before he migrated to the other side of the bell man's desk. He chose to leave his medical research career in Boston to spend more time with his family.

"I was prepared to come to Vermont. I just gave it all away. I thought I was going to the end of the world, anyway," he reflects warmly. The young family settled near the state park in Grand Isle that they had loved to visit. Hogas, who began working in Ethiopia at the age of 8, landed at the Sheraton in 1991, the year after O'Sullivan.

Touchette has lived and worked at the Trapp Family Lodge most of her life, having never held another formal job. Her mother-in-law was Mrs Von Trapp's personal maid for 27 years, and it was with her that Touchette first came to the Lodge at the age of 15 to help in the summer.

"She was very fussy," Touchette, laughs. "She taught me how to clean." After taking a few years off to raise her young children, this spring Touchette celebrates 40 years of housekeeping at the Lodge, 25 years of which have been full-time, including weekends.

Haldane, a self-proclaimed military brat growing up in a family with seven children, got her working papers and took her first waitress job at the age of 14, delivering dinner trays in a nursing home to supplement her desire for "anything extra." With a passion for politics and sports, Haldane formed an allegiance to the Cubs while living in Chicago and can talk baseball with the best of them. She and her husband, a native Vermonter, bought land on which to retire, but ended up coming to Vermont sooner than expected when her husband was facing relocation to Brownsville, TX.

She celebrates 25 years of work at the Wayside this year, 14 of which have been at the counter.

A pulse of pride runs through all four individuals; a smiling sense of fulfillment created by the understanding that their jobs enable them to play a key role in creating wonderful memories.

Haldane says, "I was going to be a nurse, a teacher, I took Latin for three years. But then I started waitressing and I don't know what it was& I couldn't leave. I just like this type of business, the people. You meet all types of people from all walks of life."

Their satisfaction and happiness with their careers, and the many lives they have stirred, is a common thread they all share.

A sense of respect for all people, fellow workers, and their employers, is also a theme among the four individuals. The best thing about her job, Touchette says, is "getting to know the Trapp family, and them trusting me with the responsibility of taking care of this Lodge." Haldane feels that, "Everybody comes into the world the same way, and everyone leaves the same way. Treat someone the way you want to be treated and the rewards are there."

O'Sullivan notes that he knows "eight words of French and is fluent in Bostonian;" the smile is the universal language anyway. Hogas stated humbly, "I have done very well in my life. I have met so many people; they are really wonderful."

O'Sullivan, Hogas, Touchette, and Haldane all have a following among perennial guests. Every morning before sunrise, Haldane makes the first batch of coffee for the same guest. "I punch in the time clock and then I make out his check," she says briskly. Annual guests at the Trapp Family Lodge look for Touchette. Then, if they become too elderly to travel, "I get letters from the ladies at Christmas." Conversely, one of the worst things about their jobs is when a person they have come to know and expect, dies. "It's awful when you lose a customer," says Haldane.

Beyond the familiar, tales of encounters with household names are a reminder that Vermont is a world-class destination for famous people, as well as a thrilling perk in their jobs. O'Sullivan, who always keeps a camera in his pocket, totes a briefcase full of albums and framed shots of him on the job, from sports stars and Olympians, to politicians, musicians, and the Shriners.

"Harry Belafonte was here last week," he says proudly, as he pulls out a photo of the two men, arm-in-arm.

O'Sullivan and Haldane have in common their service to Joe DiMaggio. O'Sullivan was awestruck: "It was as though I was looking at God." In Haldane's case, The Yankee Clipper visited with his brother Dom DiMaggio, and Marilyn Monroe. It was the latter whom she remembers. "She was very beautiful, unassuming, and wore a scarf over her hair," remembers Haldane.

But after a while, even the famous blend together. Haldane muses, "There have been countless people over the years. I think I've waited on Governor Douglas three times, and each time, he's gotten oatmeal. I wanted to tell him, 'I like oatmeal, too.'"

Although all four have been working in the hospitality industry for decades longer, the year 2008 marks 25 years of consistent, full-time employment for Haldane and Touchette at the Wayside and Trapp Family Lodge; for O'Sullivan and Hogas, 19 and 18 years at the Sheraton Burlington. Some things have not changed - "Clean is clean," chuckles Touchette - but some things have. Now guests are more demanding, the world is moving faster, and visitors have a higher level of expectation than decades ago.

"The race is on," says O'Sullivan. "Vermont used to be more laid back; now it is more like Boston. Everyone is running."

Having enjoyed long careers, O'Sullivan, Hogas, Haldane, and Touchette's years left in the workforce can all be counted on one hand. All of them look to retirement to spend more time with their families, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren, and perhaps travel a bit.

Each year, the staff of Vermont's businesses accommodate 24.4 million overnight stays. What is next? Is a new, younger crop of service employees groomed to work weekends, spending long hours on their feet, behind the scenes in Vermont's hospitality industry? With the changing times, the tide has brought a new work force.

David Kaufman, owner of Vermont Tourism Network and a part-time faculty member in the University of Vermont's (UVM) Recreation Management Program, a major in the Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources, offers some perspective: "Most of our students are passionate about the recreation and tourism industry. They don't want to sit behind a desk. At their young ages, it's a great place to launch their careers, even if they may not be in it for the long haul like former generations."

To borrow a line from the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." The next generation of workers is growing up in an electronic environment, using computers not only to process work, but to communicate via email. Kaufman states, "Today, sophisticated hand-held electronic devices only enhance the ability to communicate electronically...so why bother to talk with anyone one-on-one? Therein lies one of the major challenges for employers in integrating next generation workers into their businesses."

When one considers the businesses accounting for much of Vermont's economic stability - tourism, recreation, and hospitality - the "failure to communicate" can be deadly for a business. As O'Sullivan, Hogas, Haldane, and Touchette have experienced, The Baby Boomer travelers of today (and especially of tomorrow as that generation turns to post-retirement travel in massive numbers) demand higher levels of service than ever before to meet their expectations and their needs.

Kaufman notes, "This personal treatment is 100 percent based on quality interpersonal communication... people talking and interacting with other people. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges today is educating our next generation workers that the electronics are not the end-all, but that being able to communicate effectively in person is absolutely critical to the success of a tourism, recreation, or hospitality business."

Kaufman notes, "In my classes at UVM, including Marketing for the Hospitality Industry, Ski Area Management, and Entrepreneurship in Recreation and Tourism; class discussion, group projects, and quality presentations are a focal point, all directed to improving the interpersonal communication skills of the students. If we can graduate students who have learned the important concepts and who can communicate in person, we send them out into a world of tourism far better equipped to succeed."

Now, in addition to the UVM recreation management program, a number of Vermont's state colleges and technical centers offer degrees or certificates in hospitality training. And, recognizing the future need in the state's hospitality industry, the New England Culinary Institute next month will launch the Vermont Hospitality Institute.

This grant-funded program offers courses in baking and cooking, beverages, service, and supervision in the hospitality industry, and is free to people currently employed in the Vermont hospitality industry.

International workers also make up a critical component of the Vermont hospitality industry, bolstering Vermont's number of available service employees during peak times when there is more than enough work to go around.

Like the diversity of visitors and the treasure troves of experiences with which they go home every day, Danny O'Sullivan, Afework Hogas, Belle Touchette, and Connie Haldane affirm that Vermont's tourism industry offers fulfilling jobs for all types of people, with all types of skills.

"Go for what you want in life," laughs Wayside waitress Connie Haldane, keeping one eye on the door through the steam as she sets down a giant bowl of pea soup. "You've got to be happy."

Vicky Tebbetts is the Vice President of the Vermont Hospitality Council, the tourism division of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. The Vermont Hospitality Council's four focus areas are marketing, advocacy, education and training, and networking and leadership opportunities.