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ust weeks before he died, 90-year-old Sam Wormington accompanied his daughter, Colleen Neu, to Schweitzer Mountain Resort. The outing in February 2011 turned out to be the last visit for the father-daughter team who had made hundreds of trips to the ski area since it opened in 1963. As Schweitzer’s first manager, Wormington often took his only child with him to work. Back then, the pair quickly parted company for the day as “Schweitzer Sam” tended to his duties. Neu led a charmed life for a teenager, skiing to her heart’s content. On this visit, the tables had turned. “We walked arm and arm,” Neu, 61, said, recalling her dad’s unsteadiness, “and he asked me to slow down because he wanted to feel the snow under his feet. So we stopped and he shuffled in place.” The trip was difficult for Wormington physically
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Schweitzer Sam Mountain’s first manager created a lasting legacy
and painful for Neu emotionally as they walked to the Mojo Café and, later, to the executive office. “Dad visited a while (with CEO and President Tom Chasse) and then said we needed to go. This was the first time I ever saw Dad pull up short,” she said. “He loved the people and loved to talk about Schweitzer. I took him back to The Bridge. He didn’t ask to go up again. He loved the sport of skiing. It was truly his life.” As a skier in Canada during his younger days, tall, lanky Wormington competed in giant slalom. He also earned his licenses as an official and instructor for racing and ski jumping. Even during his final months, while at The Bridge Assisted Living, Wormington seized every opportunity to lure young people to his sport, such as the 5-year-old daughter of Bridge staffer Angie Aller. “One afternoon Gracie and I were waiting for a ride,” said Aller. “He asked her if she knew how to ski. She said ‘No.’ ” “Well, I’ll teach you,” Wormington said. “Just turn your knees. Oh, look, she’s got it. You’ve got a natural here!” “Gracie cried and cried the day he died,” Aller said. 14
schweitzer magazine | 2012 • 2013
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By Marianne Love
Photo by Ross Hall/Courtesy Hallans Gallery
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