July 18, 2010, Tifton, GA –TIFTON GAZETTE— When the Stafford family opened the Holiday Inn on U.S. Highway 82 West 46 years ago, honeymoon suites cost newlyweds $13. Times have changed and many memories have been made at the hotel that will soon be demolished and the property redeveloped.

Denean Stafford Jr., who died in 2001, began buying swamp land in the area of “Cow House Branch” in 1951. He built one Holiday Inn in Atlanta before building Tifton’s on the site, which was completed on July 1, 1964.

“He knew the land would develop,” said Stafford’s wife, Flora “Boo” Stafford, as she sat on the couch in the lobby of the hotel Thursday with her daughter, Sally Perez.

Boo said her husband took her to the site of the Holiday Inn in Atlanta and that she sang to herself, “over the hill and to the poor house we go.”

“He went to a banker one time about a development and the banker said, ‘You want to borrow what?” Sally said. “He had a lot of nerve and he knew what he was doing.”

The hotel has seen several expansions and renovations in its years, but has always been known as a popular gathering place for good southern cooking on a buffet line. Several civic organizations have long called the hotel's meeting rooms their own.

For the first 10 years of the hotel’s operation, the Staffords leased the management to others. Then in 1973, they decided to manage it themselves. Once the Staffords' children — Mary Jane Stafford Theden, Sally, and Denean III — were older and going off to college, Boo became more involved in the hotel’s operation.

“Denean suggested I go to the Holiday Inn and help,” Boo said. “He told me I might like it and I did. I loved it.”

Boo remembers socials held every Wednesday at the hotel.

“I’d play the piano,” she said. “I still do.”

Over the years, people began to expect Boo to be watching over the buffet line, speaking to and seating people and otherwise making sure that everything was going as it should. She stayed busy, planting flowers, decorating and conversing with customers and friends as she toiled.

One of the Holiday Inn’s longtime employees, Betty Roberts, said she has worked there for 30 years. She started her career there waiting tables, then took over the hostess duties and later became the restaurant’s manager. She recently returned to cashiering because of health problems.

“We are more like a family,” Roberts said. “Mrs. Stafford has a way with people. I can remember when she would seat people and then not see them for a year and then call them by name when they came back. You want to please your customers.”

Working at the hotel was interesting, especially when celebrities dropped in for a stay. The women remembered Burl Ives, Danny Thomas, the band Alabama and Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the Supreme Court, who wore his bikini by the pool. Some considered that “quite scandalous.”

Sally said she and her siblings would often help out in the hotel’s restaurant, especially on holidays. She said she once ran the switchboard at the hotel. The restaurant served 900 people this Mother’s Day.

“Mother hasn’t cooked for 20 years,” a grinning Sally said. “This has been our dining table here.”

Boo said that some of the older friends and customers of the restaurant have asked her what they were going to do once the restaurant was no longer there.

“I just tell them to follow me,” Boo said. “I’ll have to fix me a pot of greens and cornbread and we’ll eat in front of my house.”

Sally said that the future of employees of the hotel and restaurant has been a concern to her family.

“They are part of our lives,” she said. “We are working very hard to place everyone. They’ve stayed with us so long.”

Sally said that Stafford Hospitality’s franchise agreement with Holiday Inn ends in August.

“We knew they weren’t going to re-franchise exterior corridor hotels,” Sally said. “They wanted us to build a Holiday Inn Select with a full-time restaurant, but in this market and economy, we don’t think that’s best.”

The Holiday Inn buffet will be served for the last time Aug. 15, Boo said.

“I’ve enjoyed it and the good Lord has blessed us,” Boo said. “I’m going to be at a loss.”

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Staffords say goodbye

We would like to thank all of you, our many loyal customers, for 50 wonderful years at the Holiday Inn Tifton. Our parents, Denean and Boo Stafford, never dreamed when they opened one of the very first roadside “motels” what a tremendous economic impact it would have on Tifton and that it would become such an important part of the cultural fabric of this community. That is why it is especially hard to announce that our family has decided that this is the right time to close the Holiday Inn. We will be serving our famous buffet for the last time on Sunday, Aug. 15.

Our parents could not have imagined what a deep and enduring legacy they were creating for our family and for the Tifton community. We are so grateful to all of you for allowing us to share in some of your happiest times ... your parties, weddings, Thanksgivings and Christmases. It is hard to imagine a thanksgiving without Bertha’s cornbread dressing. And we might even miss helping clear tables, which inevitably happens on a holiday!

The Holiday Inn has been a family business in the truest sense of the word. It has been our second home and our customers and the people that work there have always been our extended family. We have been blessed throughout the years with the most outstanding, devoted employees who are our primary concern as this era comes to an end. Through outplacement and inplacement efforts, we hope to have everyone re-employed by the time we close the doors.

There have been three generations of us that have worked at the hotel in some capacity but it is our mother, Boo, who put her heart and soul into the restaurant. It is her charm, humor and gracious hospitality that our guests from around the world will long remember. And it is our father, Denean Stafford Jr., whose vision and courage continues to inspire us as we move forward in business and community service.

One of our earliest memories of the Holiday Inn was riding through the parking lot on a summer’s night, counting the cars and wondering if we would ever have enough customers. And, yes, we did. And life goes on, times change, the landscape of Tifton changes, but not the wonderful memories. And, though we may not be exactly certain of what will come next on that property, we can assure that it will be something our family, and this community, will be proud of.