Thought about friend, mentor, and client Peter Glen today. Did some looking around and despite the fact that he’s been gone nearly 20 years, he doesn’t have a memorial at findagrave.com, nor a profile atfamilysearch.org, or ancestry. I just felt so sad about it. He was such a nice guy that I thought he should be remembered. So, now he has a profile on all three sites. I have three photos readily available. Plus I have more packed away in my office. I also have more than one of his books, so eventually, I’ll get his bio out of one of those. Found a write up about him tonight in Billboard magazine from 2001, when he passed away. I do not know how many family members he had at the time. When we scattered his ashes the only family present was a 1/2 brother. Peter’s New York office assistant, Robert Cohen, called me later on and asked if I had anything that Peter’s niece could have. I inherited a LOT of stuff. The prize though was a beautiful lamp. The lamp is too big and heavy to ship, I still have it. I sent her one of his dress shirts and several sets of home sewn dinner napkins. I don’t remember now… I filled a pretty big box. I kept the silverware, which is not silver, but super cool (in my not so humble opinion) and still use the set to this day!
Peter loved cats and he had a slew of them on his ranch. My oldest inherited two of them, I do not remember their original names, but one got its name changed to ‘Stinky’ and you can imagine why. LOL. If I remember right the other one, I just called Grouchy. I know I was not in his will. I think I probably got a lot of stuff because I was the poor sapsucker that found him on the floor and way beyond help, other than a ride to the coroner’s office. I was also the last person to see him alive. I was able to confirm some suspicions for the coroner. He died the same weekend I was to launch his website which was at the time, promoting one of his newest books. (Not the one mentioned below)
I am super glad that I got to meet him, and that he let me listen into his business calls so that I learned more about assertiveness and business sense. (some anyhow). When I put myself down, he let me know that it was not true. He heard me talk to myself one day while installing phone lines into his office. His was the very first job where I worked remotely. I took care of his Sonoma County office and his New York office…both from Cloverdale. (So to the woman in the Santa Rosa employment office who just a year or so before told me to get my head out of the clouds because I’d NEVER be able to work remotely! Bah!) I was allowed to haul my kids (Diane and Wesley) up to the ranch with me while I worked. He seemed to enjoy them.
He lived on a gated ranch, lovingly called: Jasmin Hill. The first time I drove there, I not only didn’t know how to get into the gate, but I was also way afraid that the residence was too rich for my blood. Then I called Peter a father, to his younger (ahem, very handsome-er, drag queen) boyfriend. Boyfriend whispered, “uh, Peggy he’s not my father.” Oh you talk about embarrassed. I knew I wasn’t going back to that house ever. And yet, I was called back over and over again. In the end, I was trusted enough to have keys to his house –the boyfriend left while Peter was doing shows on the road. I was the one who went in and took a mental snapshot of what was left so that when he called and asked, I’d have answers. I think he took the news better than I did. But, then he had the income to replace all that rich stuff, where I would have lost it permanently, I’d probably never had afforded it again! LOL – but, by then we knew each other pretty well, and I was pretty protective. He refurbished and redraped and rebuilt. I got a kick, after he died, while we were all sitting around telling stories about him when I realized that his fancy dancy drapes were not hemmed. That is when I learned that money allows for a whole lot of show…and if anyone knew about the show it was him. After finding him, after the ambulance came and went, Diane (my youngest) and I drove to my son’s school for an IEP meeting. Another day where I learned that life, it just goes on. Even so, I will never forget Peter Glen.
P.S. This was the man who paid me $50 an hour, to find a ‘show cow’ for a show in Chicago. I searched and searched, and made calls, and in the end, I said, ‘Peter, when you get to Chicago, call 4-H, those cows are used to doing shows.” & I’ve got the video! LOL (See page 101 of Peter’s book Encore, for the meaning behind the cow.)
For your information, if I remember right, Peter has three books. It might be two.
I own two of them. I own a few of his video’s (some used as customer service training video’s). The books that I am aware of:
- It’s Not My Department, How America can return to Excellence giving and receiving quality service.
- Encore!, 57 Essays to Prompt, Provoke, and Produce.
If you read these books, you’ll find them semi-autobiographical, as Peter writes partly about customer service experiences he’s had and of course about his ideas.
- Peter’s memorial at findagrave.com (I marked him as famous, and gave him two stars worth. If a person is mentioned in Billboard! Come on…… lol)
- Peter’s ‘we remember’ page is here: https://www.weremember.com/peter-glen/2o1i/feed
- His Ancestry.com page is here: Peter B. Glen (at least for now)
- His page at familysearch.org is here: Peter Glen (1939 – 2001)
