Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Bringing us Hank Greenspun’s eulogy to the founder of the Showboat Hotel

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006 | 7:51 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. His column appears on Sunday and on occasion during the week.

When buildings die, they get imploded. That is the way it works in Las Vegas.

And in their places, a new Las Vegas, a new imagination and a new era of creativity spring forth. That is the beauty of this most modern of American cities. That is the reason why the rest of the country envies our ability to reinvent ourselves. That is the basis for all of the excitement that keeps Las Vegas forever young and forever in the hearts and minds of millions and millions of tourists.

I thought about that when I watched the news last week as the old Showboat Hotel came crashing down upon itself (it was called the Castaways in its last incarnation). I didn't think about what would grow up at that place, I thought about how I and many of my friends grew up in that place so many years ago. For us, the Showboat held so many of the sweet memories of our youth.

I couldn't help shedding the same kind of tears that I knew my friend, J. Kell Houssels Jr., and his wife, Nancy, were shedding because I knew that for them, too, the Showboat was a most special place. For them, it was a family business, and like it is with most family businesses, the bottom line was tied directly to the heart.

All that led me to a eulogy that my father, Hank Greenspun, gave at the funeral of J. Kell Houssels Sr. in 1979. It isn't about the Showboat but it bears directly upon the kind and quality of a man and his family who gave birth to that hotel more than half a century ago. I am reprinting the eulogy because I think the 1.7 plus million people who didn't know about Mr. Houssels, should.

His was a life committed to family and community and the concept of doing the right thing. It is a lesson in which we can all take a refresher course.

Eulogy at the funeral of J. Kell Houssels Sr.

"In listening to the comforting expressions of Bob Cannon and Mike Hines about our good friend, J. Kell Houssels Sr., I believe that Kell's life can best be characterized by the words of a popular song: 'He touched me.'

"I don't know of any man who favorably touched more lives than Kell Houssels, and so few people are aware of it.

"What both Mike and Bob recounted were their personal experiences with the man. Kell was a very humble man, and everything he did was on a very personal note.

"In large measure, Kell touched my life.

"In my business we have a rare privilege. We can recount a man's contributions to the social order while he can still smell the flowers, instead of waiting to heap them on his grave.

"I recall an occasion when Kell had succeeded in turning the Tropicana Hotel into the Tiffany of the Strip. His racehorses were doing well at the tracks. He had contributed much to the community and his personality was indented on the growth of Las Vegas -- downtown as well as on the Strip.

"I figured it was time to record Kell in the history of Las Vegas and assigned Sun writer Ed Reid to the story. Ed spoke to Kell and told him he would like to write about the two things in his life that gave him pride and pleasure -- the Tropicana and his racehorses.

"Ed conceived the idea of bringing one of Kell's top horses to Las Vegas and posing the horse on the lawn in front of the Trop with Kell. The Trop sign would show in the background.

"Kell was always reluctant to grant an interview, and this bit of personal glorification and image making didn't appeal to him. But after a lot of persuasion he finally agreed.

"On the appointed day, the horse was brought to Las Vegas and Kell was ready.

"Ed Reid forgot to show up.

"The public relations man at the Tropicana was frantic.

"They had gone to tremendous expense and bother. Getting Kell to stand still for the picture was a big problem in itself because of his basic shyness.

" 'We have the horse here. Kell waited almost an hour, and you didn't show. What happened?'

"I dashed out to Trop, apologized to Kell and told him Ed had probably been held up in an interview at some Strip watering place. I suggested that we would do it again.

"Instead of being angry, all he said was: 'Maybe Reid did me a favor. There are people in Las Vegas who are more worthy to be recorded in history than I. So we'll let it go for a few more years before we have to make the decision again.'

"His feelings that others merited remembrance more than he did not impress me, because there were many times that I sat on the podium with him or sat in the audience while he was being honored for his benefactions, charitableness and contributions to our civic betterment. He was always most uncomfortable and almost embarrassed at words of praise.

"I remember Kell for the ray of sunshine he brought in one of those dark-cloud times in my life.

"My period of despair came after a fire that burned the Sun to the ground. I was getting absolutely nowhere with the insurance company, printing costs were astronomical, and things were getting very rough.

"I went out to see Kell at the Health Club and told him I couldn't even make next week's payroll. He suggested I get a massage, relax a little and have lunch. 'Now tell me what you need,' he said. I told him I didn't know when the insurance companies would finally settle. He asked me what the week's payroll was and I told him $25,000. He called his controller and told him to make out a check for $50,000.

" 'There,' he said, 'that will cover two weeks and if you need more, come and see me.'

"That was just one incident of friendship.

"Another came much earlier -- in 1952, when a boycott hit the Sun and all the hotels and casinos canceled their advertising. We knew that evidently we had displeased somebody.

"C.D. Baker, then mayor of Las Vegas, called a meeting of all the downtown casino owners. C.D. was angry with the gaming operators, wanting to know who influenced them all to cancel their ads at the same time. The owners were giving all kinds of lame excuses and spurious reasons except what actually took place.

"C.D. was a forthright individual who didn't appreciate these evasions and finally turned to one man he felt he could trust, J. Kell Houssels. C.D. said: 'OK, Kell, let's have it.'

"Kell said: 'C.D., when my partners came back from that meeting and told me what took place, I told them it was wrong and all the talking these fellows are doing will not make it right.'

"That was Kell Houssels.

"He had a high moral sense of right and wrong and even when decisions of the then Tax Commission, which controlled gambling licensing, appeared to do an injustice to some individual, we could always be certain of a call or an invite to Kell's office to hear him tell of a wrong he believed had been committed. And his judgments were sound.

"Many gaming operators who helped make the industry were privileged to do it through Kell's intercession. He didn't believe that licenses should be restricted to a favored few. He believed in healthy competition, so in large measure he was a strong leader in the growth of the industry and our community.

"I tell of these personal incidents affecting me because my experiences with Kell have been exemplified many times over throughout this community by persons who have been touched by his benefactions and his friendship.

"I don't know how many thousands more out there can bring similar testimony, but I know they are there.

"It is said that a good man never dies, because to live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.

"Just as he lives in the hearts of his son, Kell Jr., daughter-in-law Nancy, and beautiful grandchildren, so does he live in the hearts of my family. And all the families who are here to remember him.

"We can't think of him dying, because wherever we look around we see the monuments he has built. He belongs to us and he will most surely be entombed in the history of this town that he has helped to create.

"Kell Jr. -- you have a legacy that is memorable and enduring. You have a possession that has greater value than all the worldly goods that man can accumulate.

"For you have dwelt in your father's house."

The Showboat Hotel came tumbling down a few days ago but the enduring legacy of the Houssels family is rock solid and will last forever in the fabric of our community.

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