It all started with a DUCK! Marriage IS all it is quacked up to be! Doug was trying to help Pam out. In a Disney University staff meeting, Pam asked “Does anyone know any quackers?”
Charged with organizing a cast member Donald Duck 50th birthday party, Pam wanted a quack-off. It was to be judged by Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald for over 50 years, and Wayne Allwine, the current voice of Mickey at the time. But she only had two contestants and wanted more.
So Doug offered to help and entered the contest. If you want to know how that all ended, watch this video! Click on the image to the left.
Starting at age 17, Pam enjoyed three roles on Main Street; first, as a merchandise hostess and later performing as a candy maker and tour guide. After being selected an Disneyland Ambassador finalist, Pam was offered a position at the Disney’s corporate HQ, organizing cast events and activities for the Mickey Mouse Activity Center (yes, that was her office!).
After marrying Doug, Pam, who had earned her degree in Healthcare Administration, worked for health insurance and health marketing companies for six years. She and Doug had 3 children under age 4 when Doug offered a new journey – starting their own training and consulting company. So the journey of G. Douglas Lipp & Associates began with Pam (or Geppeto as Doug likes to say) managing the business side while Doug designed programs and trained on the road.
Pam says her favorite experiences are the “stumble-upons” … the many awesome Disney stories that they come upon in the travels all over the world. Here are a few favorites:
From Bahrain: “We were at Bahrain Petroleum Company to donate the Milton H. Lipp collection to the Bapco Museum. Many VIPs were there and it was quite emotional. It was a refreshing and hysterical moment when an invitee introduced himself as the villian character from Disney’s Hamad and the Pirates. He raced home and brought us back a disk – “pirated” of course.
From Canada: An Alberta client conducting research for the Calgary Stampede came upon a Newport Beach resident, Irene, age 89, who had performed as a burlesque dancer at their venue. During the interview, the client learned Irene was the widow of Stuart Jewell, the infamous time-lapse photographer for Disneyland’s opening and Academy Award winning The Living Desert. It seemed impossible that Irene had never been to Disneyland and she was determined to go for her 90th birthday. One problem-who would take her? Disney friend, Joanne and her husband David joined in the special day which resulted in passes to Disneyland and even an interview. This adventure led to a revitalization of Jewell’s time lapse film going viral online and shown on Good Morning America, and a visit by the Archives to check on the memorabilia.
From Yosemite: Three gorgeous days at Lake Merced introduced us to lovely friends, Mike and Rosey, camp managers. Wanting to stay in touch, we invited them to join us as guests at the Walt Disney Family Museum and the featured Talk for that month. The special exhibit about photographer George Hurrell, featured Disney and many Hollywood celebrities from back in the day. Unbeknownst to us, one of the featured photos was Buster Keaton – Mike’s grandfather! Mike shared a cool story “When Buster was a child, he was at a show – he and Houdini were in a room and Buster tripped and fell – Houdini said ” Well, that was a buster” and it stuck! (photo: Buster Keaton and Walt Disney grandkids at exhibit)
Helpers and new friends at Disney U in Bahrain event.
With the “Great One” Wayne Gretzky Greatness in Leadership event, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Proud to be a harp soul sista!
Future scuba family!
Honolulu, Hawaii, 2014
