Max Clifton Boasts 70 Years of Visiting Mackinac Island
By Karen Gould

Seventy years ago, Max Clifton (center) began working at Grand Hotel. Tuesday, June 12, he stopped by the hotel for lunch and visited with hotel president R. Daniel Musser III (left) and his longtime friend, chairman R. D. Musser Jr.

Sixteen-year-old Max Clifton made his first trip to Mackinac Island to spend the tourist season working at Grand Hotel in 1937. Since then, he has returned almost every summer.

"I think I missed one year," said Mr. Clifton.

On July 29, he will turn 86 years old.

"Once you get married to this Island when you are young," he said, "I don't think that association ever stops."

Mr. Clifton worked at the hotel for eight years, until 1945. He moved around to different jobs through the years, working in the bar, the accounting department, in reservations, and finally at the front desk.

Today, he continues to work. He is the administrative assistant to Jim Davis, the creator of the "Garfield" comic strip. He fields Mr. Davis' phone calls and handles his mail, and is one of 58 employees at Paws Incorporated in Albany, Indiana.

"It's a great job," he said.

His wife, Carol, has been visiting the Island for almost as long as Mr. Clifton.

"This place means a lot to us," she said.

This time, the couple is spending the week at Windermere Hotel on Main Street. The hotel is managed by Island Mayor Margaret Doud and Mr. Clifton is good friends with the Doud family, knowing both the mayor's mother, Jeannette, and her late father, Robert.

"Robert and I were very close friends," said Mr. Clifton.

The Cliftons live in Muncie, Indiana, and for 20 years, during the 1970s and 1980s, the pair rented an apartment all summer on the Island.

"It's been a second home for us for a long time," he said.

Since then, they have stayed at other Island locations for varying lengths of time, including Grand Hotel. Years ago while staying on the Island, he used to play golf. Now he and his wife "just do everything you do on the Island," he said, including walking around and visiting old friends like R. Daniel Musser Jr., chairman of Grand Hotel, a friend for many years.

Mackinac Island is not the only place the Cliftons vacation.

"Of course we go to other places," he said. "We just prefer this to any other vacation spot."