Utah Ski Archives Newsletter: 1998 (Spring), no. 12

Remembering James (Jay) Laughling

Jay Laughlin, Evelyn Engen, Ann Laughlin, Alf Engen, Chzc Morton, Jean Morton, Joe Quinney, and Jessie Quinney enjoying a Christmas gathenng at Alta in the mid 1970s REMEMBERING JAMES (JAY) LAUGHLIN It was the middle of December and we were preparing to join our boys in France for the holidays. Since they weren't coming home, we decided, kind'a spur-of-the-moment to go be with them. Since Erik would be trav- eling to New Zealand from Paris for second semester, we were in touch with Jody's brother Rick, in Singapore, trying to coor- dinate a couple of days for Erik there. That's how we got the news. Rick's E-mail told us that he had read in the morning paper in Singapore of James Laughlin's death, did we know? We did not know but received a call from Ono a little while later, giving us the same news. James, better known as Jay, Laughlin, was known in New York and Singapore as a poet, a philanthropist, and most of all as a publisher. And he was not just another pub- lisher, but someone who was willing to give by Duane Shrontz the unknown writer an audience. Through his New Directions publishing house, sever- al household names of today got their start, names such as Art Buckwald and others. What's all that got to do with Utah skiing (and this newsletter)? Well, Jay Laughlin was the majority stockholder of Alta Lifts Company. Born into a family best known for steel in this country, Jay experienced privilege of travel and adventure in his early years. He skied and climbed mountains in Europe and it was during his years at Harvard that he became acquainted with Dick Durance who skied for rival Dartmouth. The two became friends and Jay later joined Dick for a few days at Alta. They stayed at the Alta Lodge where Jay, already a publisher, worked on manuscripts in the evening. The next year, the Alta Lodge was his. As he told me in an inter- view a year ago, he simply fell in love with Alta which reminded him of places he had been in Europe. He and Jody's grandfather, Joe Quinney, became friends and enduring partners in the skiing enterprise up Little Cottonwood Canyon. With Jay buying into the lift company, the two worked together to bring Alta from its early years of a backyard playground for Salt Lake City, to a ski area with recognition across the country and around the world. As I write this, the interview Jody and I had the privilege to record a year ago is going through its final stages of transcrip- tion and will be entered into body of docu- ments of the Utah Ski Archives, housed in the Marriott Library at the University of Utah. Utah owes a great deal to James (Jay) Laughlin and the Ski Archives is hon- ored to contain some of his legacy.