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High Hampton Inn's McKee is dead at 89
By Lynn Hotaling
A Cashiers business and civic leader with family ties to Dillsboro and Sylva founders died Friday in Asheville.
A 3:30 p.m. memorial service for William Dills McKee, son of Sylva entrepreneur E.L. McKee and North Carolina's first woman state senator, Gertrude Dills McKee, is scheduled for today (Thursday) on the lawn at High Hampton Inn.
McKee
McKee, 89, was the grandson of Dillsboro founder William Allen Dills. He spent most of his adult life managing High Hampton Inn and Country Club in Cashiers, the estate his father purchased from the heirs of Civil War General Wade Hampton.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard's business school, McKee spent several years in New York City as a Wall Street bond trader with the Halsey Stewart Investment Firm before joining the U.S. Marine Corps when World War II broke out.
After his discharge from the Marines when the war was over, he returned to North Carolina at his mother's request and took a job with Southern Bell in preparation for taking over his father's interest in Western Carolina Telephone Co.
When his mother died three years later, McKee returned to Jackson County to assist with the family's business interests in Sylva and with operations at High Hampton.
After his father's 1952 death, McKee and his brothers sold the family's Sylva holdings. McKee took over as High Hampton's manager and began to broaden the resort operations there.
With the assistance of the late golf course architect George Cobb, McKee expanded the inn's 11-hole golf course to 18 holes.
Active in civic affairs as well, McKee was chairman of Jackson County's Morehead Scholarship committee for 25 years and a member of the Cherokee Historical Association's board of directors for 20.
McKee was born in Sylva and spent his childhood here. He is remembered as a friendly, outgoing boy.
"He was well liked and always wanted to help," said retired school teacher Allie Huff, 90, who has lived in Sylva all her life.
Huff said that all the children on Main Street used to play ball at the McKee house, which was located on Main Street where First Baptist Church is now.
"We called it the McKee Park," she said. "We enjoyed being at their home. We all had a good childhood growing up together."
Another Sylva resident, Rachel Phillips, 85, described McKee as a "real gentleman and a fine person" and said that what she had read about McKee having the "gift of hospitality" was true.
"He was so nice," Phillips said. "He made everyone feel special."
Melba Dillard of Cashiers, who managed the dining room at High Hampton for about 15 years, described McKee as "one of a kind" and said he was "dedicated" to High Hampton.
"He was a perfect gentleman; I liked him," Dillard said. "But there was no question that his opinion was the only one that counted. Everyone else could express themselves, but his opinion ruled."
McKee's niece, Ann Austin, remembers her uncle as a "great raconteur" and said he loved to tell stories.
Austin said she thought McKee would like to be remembered for the fact that he created a gracious, Southern mountain inn that brought happy memories to generations of families.
"He was the penultimate innkeeper," she said, adding that McKee was a "wonderful steward" for the property her grandfather had purchased from Gen. Wade Hampton's family.
"The thing that is beloved about High Hampton is that families come for generations - one family has been vacationing there for five generations - and the hotel has changed so little," Austin said. "Uncle William kept the things that were wonderful."
Improvements McKee made to the historic inn were ones that added to families' enjoyment, she said. Her uncle established an equestrian school and camp and developed an excellent children's program years before they existed at other resorts.
"Uncle William was very proud that High Hampton was a family-friendly resort," Austin said.
Austin's brother, William McKee, remembered his uncle as being "very respectful of the heritage of the area" and someone who had a particular way of doing things.
"He was very humble when it came to finances and lived frugally," William McKee said. "He was sort of a cross between Andy Rooney and Sen. Sam Ervin."
McKee's son, Will, who now manages High Hampton, said he thought his father would want to be remembered "for his interest in people and what they were about and what they did with their lives."
Will McKee described how his father would look for guests who appeared lonely or homeowners not yet in the "network" and "take them under his wing."
"I remember him doing that," Will McKee said. "He empathized with anyone who might be lonely."
Will McKee said his father was "always a gentleman," and addressed everyone he met in the same manner he was addressed.
"There's no denying he tended to capture people's interest in a memorable way and made them feel special," Will McKee said.
McKee's April 28 death came after a period of declining health and several bouts of pneumonia, Austin said.
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