David McCullough: Historian and Best-Selling Author

It all started with a phone call from my good friend, Rod McPhee.

Rod was the president of Punahou School. As the head of most private secondary schools, he would've been called headmaster but Punahou was the largest private secondary school in the US, with an enrollment of almost 3000 students, so the man in charge was called the President. I first met Rod and his wife, Sharon, when Rod's brother, Mike, and his wife bought a condominium from me. Then, in 1971, Rod and Sharon purchased unit number one in the Château Eau Claire and we became good friends. As an aside, although Rod passed away, forty-seven years later Sharon still owns the apartment.

Trusted friend connections lead to good introductions. I’m not sure how Rod knew David McCullough (probably through some educational conference), but when Rod found out David was coming to Aspen, he gave me David’s contact information.

I was honored and thrilled to meet David, historian and best-selling author of 1776, John Adams, and Mornings on Horseback to mention a few because I was a great admirer of his writing. I think I had read most of his books, but my fondest memory was reading The Path Between the Seas about the building of the Panama Canal while Betty and I were transiting the Canal in Expectation, our 44-foot cutter.

I called David and he was delighted with the idea of going for a hike. Not being sure of his hiking abilities and his adjustment to the 8,000-foot altitude, I decided to take him up Snowmass Creek as it has spectacular views of the mountains along the Continental Divide but is not too steep. It was a beautiful day and I was struck by how observant and enthusiastic David was on our drive to the trailhead. He was pointing out and asking questions about things I had hardly noticed in the many times I had made the same drive. He even noted that hay bales are a different shape back East.

And, totally by coincidence, I had been listening to his book, Truman, on cd in my car. I played it and David remarked that this was one of his favorite parts of the book and told me about his research.

Our hike was a big success and we decided to continue our conversation over dinner at Poppies restaurant that evening. It was one of my most memorable dinners as David was not only interested in everything but told wonderful stories about his adventures. The owners of the restaurant sent brandy to our table and later joined us as we partied on for at least another hour after the restaurant closed.

That was the last time I saw David in person, but we have kept in contact via phone.