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A fond farewell to Eileen McMahon, who resigned this week as president of the St. Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau. The announcement came as a surprise to almost everyone, and she'll be missed after building the bureau into a smooth-running, visitor- attracting machine.
She was a major force in raising money to build the "skunnel," the tunnel alongside Rice Park. When finished in December 2001, it will connect the RiverCentre complex with the downtown skyways. She was the bureau's president for five years; before that she was its vice president and director of sales.
McMahon's plans are to set up a consulting business that will provide interim management for organizations that are going through leadership changes.
Robyn Hansen, chairwoman of the bureau, said she's sad and disappointed to see McMahon leave and has only high praise for her work.
A replacement will be named before McMahon leaves in August.
Glorious guest list
One of the highlights on tours of the historic St. Paul Hotel is a peek at the guest register for Sept. 5, 1910, which features the signatures of President William Howard Taft and his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, along with a host of other dignitaries.
The occasion was the grand opening of the hotel, which actually had opened about six months earlier. A reproduction of the day's guest register was framed, along with a dessert fork and spoon, and given to the honored guests.
Others on the list are James R. Garfield, son of the...