May 2025 Newsletter

May 1, 2025    News   

People of the Park:

A Visit with Tammie Littlejohn

By Dale Dauten

If you’ve admired the displays outside the Silveridge Ballroom in what’s known as “the showcase,” you might assume that there are various teams taking turns coming up with all those ideas. Turns out, the designs are led by one person: Tammie Littlejohn. And, knowing that, you might guess that she learned those skills from studying art or maybe from some hobby like scrapbooking. But, Tammie surprised us by explaining her background working with displays: “We used to own a bar and I’d decorate for the holidays.” Naturally, we had to know more.

 

First, a quick bio: Tammie (that’s short for Tammara, although “no one but my dad calls me that”) grew up in Washington state alongside a twin sister and brother. She went to work for a Chinese restaurant while in high school and ended up being with them for 18 years; then, she taught school for ten years. She married and moved to a cabin in Idaho. There, she and her husband did what they referred to as a “dump run,” where they’d take their trash to the local dump and while they were out, they’d stop at the local meeting place to get some something to eat.

 

That place was a bar in Murray, Idaho (population 35). But it was the social hub for the locals, as well as for hikers and snowmobilers who came for the mountain scenery. Tammie came to love those visits to the bar and one night told the owner that if she ever decided to sell, to let her know. The owner’s response was a simple, “Oh, Tammie, I’ll never sell.” But, life being life, the owner called Tammy one day to say that after quadruple bypass surgery she could no longer run the place. “Do you want it?” she asked. And so Tammie undertook a new career as proprietor of the Bedroom Goldmine Bar.
As you may be able to make out in the photo, the place dates back to 1884. As for the “bedroom goldmine,” the original owner of the place (with the unlikely name of Kris Kristofferson, like the singer), had a mine shaft in the living quarters, in his bedroom closet, in order to keep it secret. That shaft became a feature of the bar, with lights and plexiglass so visitors to the bar could get a look at the former secret.
After giving the facilities a facelift, Tammie reinforced the idea of bar as the local hub, keeping it open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week. Business tripled. Then, although a divorce led to her losing the bar, the story had a happy ending: she remarried and her new husband bought the bar back. That new husband is Chris Littlejohn. (That’s Chris and Tammie in a photo from a Silveridge dance.)
Chris eventually decided he was ready to retire and the two sold the bar and now live fulltime at Silveridge.

 

We asked Tammie about her and Chris coming to Silveridge, and, as so often happens, it’s a story of friends and relatives. Chris visited Silveridge with his friend George Anderson, whose mother-in-law lived at the park. The two pals took a photo together in the Silveridge swimming pool and it was looking at that photo that led to a plan for the Littlejohns to rent the mother-in-law’s unit for an extended visit. However, they ended up buying a place online instead. Further, speaking of friends and family: Tammie’s mom now lives in the park, as does an aunt.

 

The Littlejohns are year-round residents and Tammie helps keep the park activities going in the summer. She’s a regular at card games (and invites anyone who wants to join in to come at noon on Tuesdays or Wednesdays to the Card Room), and she and Chris help Jill Betcher with the summer potluck dinners, leading the effort for holiday events. Tammie also rents and sells park models – you’ll see signs on available units.

 

We’ll close with the first thing we learned about Tammie. When Activities Director Lu Way suggested we meet her, she gave Tammie this highest of praise: “I don’t know anyone who has a bigger heart than Tammie Littlejohn.”