Walt Stiesmeyer could drop names all day, from Harry Truman, who “was a helluva nice guy” to Frank Sinatra, who didn’t make his list of nice guys.
Stiesmeyer, who worked for decades as a bellman, saw and visited with two presidents and some of the best-known Hollywood stars.
Stiesmeyer, who had worked at the Brown Palace and the late Shirley Savoy hotels, died June 13 in an assisted-living center in Arvada. He was 86. He had suffered two strokes recently.
At his request, there will be no services.
Stiesmeyer always had stories from work: Nat King Cole was very nice and a good tipper. Dentists were the worst tippers, but teachers were good, said his son Chuck Stiesmeyer of Wheat Ridge.
The oddest thing Walt Stiesmeyer had to move was a small, but full, refrigerator, owned by a woman who also had “about 50 or 60 pairs of shoes,” said Chuck Stiesmeyer.
Tip: $10.
The late Sammy Davis Jr. tipped him $100 for far less work.
Stiesmeyer once chatted up President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the front porch of the commander in chief’s mother-in-law’s house in Denver.
When Truman was at the Brown Palace, he had a suit and shirt cleaned, but the shirt still had a spot and Stiesmeyer reported that to Truman. The retired president was unfazed, saying, “Aw, hell, that’s OK. I’ll just wear another one,” and he grabbed a shirt he’d worn the day before.
“The work was back-breaking, but I never heard him complain, and he hardly ever missed work,” said Stiesmeyer’s daughter Margaret Appuglise of Henderson, Nev.
He once had a customer with 13 suitcases, and more than once he had to lift 100-pound trunks.
He also made liquor runs for guests and picked up hamburgers down the street for guests who arrived after room service closed.
Stiesmeyer was friendly and outgoing and made sure he knew the right people locally. When he wanted to move from the Brown Palace to the then-new Hilton Hotel (now the Sheraton) on the 16th Street Mall, he phoned his friend, Mayor Bill McNichols, who made it happen.
In 1990 he received the Bellman of the Year Award from the Colorado-Wyoming Hotel and Motel Association.
Stiesmeyer continued taking care of people after retiring, giving many hours to seniors by taking them to doctors’ appointments and doing errands, his daughter said.
Walter C. Stiesmeyer was born July 13, 1923, on a farm near Bonnots Mill, Mo. He attended school through the eighth grade, dropping out to help on the family farm. He was in the Army after World War II and worked as a dental technician.
While stationed in Germany, he met Dorothea Kurz, and they married on Feb. 11, 1950. She died in 1994.
When he was discharged at Fort Logan, he got a look at Denver and decided to stay here.
In addition to his son and daughter, Stiesmeyer is survived by another son, Stephen Stiesmeyer of Fort Collins, and another daughter, Vera Stiesmeyer-Insana of Phoenix; two brothers, Bill Stiesmeyer of Bonnots Mill, Mo., and Edward Stiesmeyer of Albuquerque; and seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by two sisters and one brother.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
