Longtime Bellman Angelo Butera Dies
Times Picayune  07-28-1996

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Angelo Joseph Butera, a bellman who handled luggage at the Fairmont Hotel for
more than 60 years, died Thursday at Chateau de Notre Dame Nursing Home. He
was 79.

Mr. Butera, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, started working at the hotel
as a teen-ager in September 1932, when it was called the Roosevelt. He was
still on the payroll when he died, hotel spokeswoman Cary Alden said, although
he had been on medical leave for several months.

During his decades at the hotel, Mr. Butera carried the bags of guests such as
President Truman, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, French President Charles
de Gaulle, Gov. Huey Long, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and entertainers Jack
Benny, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball and Sophie Tucker.

Comedian Phil Harris was "a prince," he said in a 1993 interview, but Bing
Crosby was a lousy tipper "and he wouldn't talk to you, either."

Mr. Butera, whose father worked at the hotel for 29 years, was hired as an
elevator operator. He was promoted to bellman two years later.

"Everything was spit and polish, just like in the military," he said in a 1983
interview. "When we got out of the elevator to pick up someone's bags, we had
to march just like a soldier. And we didn't have any hand carts like we use
today. We had to carry everything by hand until we were loaded down like
burros."

During his six decades at the hotel, the number of days Mr. Butera missed work
could be counted on the fingers of one hand. One such day was May 3, 1978, a
day of record flooding; even then, he called the hotel asking for a pirogue to
get him to work from his Mid-City home.

In 1993, he was named Older Worker of the Year by the Employment and Training
Program of the New Orleans Council on Aging.

Mr. Butera was a member of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees
International Union Local No. 166.

Survivors include his wife, Alice Mae Sheehan Butera; four daughters, Darlene
B. MacDonald, Marilyn B. Miller, Angela B. Mosbey and Kathleen B. Eschmann;
three sisters, Lena B. Maunoir, Pauline B. Burke and Mary B. Decareaux; 10
grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be held Monday at 9:45 a.m. at Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home,
3827 Canal St., followed by a Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church at
Canal and South Lopez streets. Visitation will be today from 6 to 10 p.m. and
Monday from 8 to 9:45 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Hope
Mausoleum.