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A series of what are expected to be intense meetings will be hosted by a recent retiree Monday through Friday at 9:20 a.m. inside Lookout Lodge atop Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain.
Former investment banker Bill Thomas, who worked in New York City finance for more than three decades, relocated to Sun Valley from New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife, Barbara, last July.
Since then, Barbara said, he has not been able to relax.
“He’s driving me absolutely crazy,” she said. “I thought we were going to enjoy our retirement in peace and quiet, but that is clearly not the case.
“He’s like a raccoon without a garbage bin to overturn.”
Barbara, who taught school in New Canaan for more than 25 years, said Bill needs purpose — the foundation of his daily operations.
“Without purpose, he can’t establish a disciplined routine,” she said. “And he absolutely loses it without his routine.”
That routine includes waking up at 5:15 a.m., showering, shaving and reading The Wall Street Journal before vigorously attacking the day with a slate of power meetings, orders and action.
“He simply has to direct people,” Barbara said, clarifying that what she really meant was that he has to have people to boss around. “For the past four months, those ‘people’ have been me.”
Barbara said she is desperate to wake up slowly, drink a cup of tea, read a book in peace and “do whatever the hell I want without feeling like a rabid CEO is breathing down my neck looking for some sort of problem that needs fixing.
“And usually I’m the problem.”
Barbara said she has started hiding in her own home to avoid her husband’s intensity.
“Thankfully, the old SOB made a lot of money,” she said. “So we have a big house with a lot of rooms and secret hiding spots. But I’m tired of tiptoeing around my own home.”
In early January, Barbara said she had an epiphany.
Over dinner, she casually mentioned to Ron that she had overheard a group of retired men talking about investments at Atkinson’s Market in Ketchum.
“And I told Bill they did not know what they were talking about and needed help and direction,” she said with a sly smile. “I could see his eyes widening with interest and passion, and I knew it was time to strike.”
Barbara told Bill she felt someone needed to establish a group of wealthy, retired businessmen and women from the East Coast — New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, etc.
“I told him that if someone was smart, they would host daily meetings inside Lookout Lodge,” she said, giggling. “He took the bait hook, line and sinker and immediately started making calls and firing off emails.”
Within an hour, Bill had 73 interested potential members.
While the subject matter of the power meetings has not yet been divulged, Barbara said it hardly matters.
“He just needs to hold court, look serious and speak in his power voice,” she said. “All the things he does to me that are absolutely exhausting.”
The meetings will begin at 9:22 a.m. sharp, meaning attendees will need to catch one of the first lifts up Baldy each morning to arrive on time.
“I guarantee Bill will tell them to stop being wussies and skin to the top, like him,” Barbara said. “But he’s never actually skinned to the top — his blood is mostly scotch at this point.”
Most mornings, Ron’s private helicopter will deposit him just outside Lookout Lodge at 8:45 a.m., with his skins secured to the bottom of his skis.
“Don’t get me started on that whole heap of nonsense,” Barbara said of her husband’s helicopter. “I didn’t retire to Sun Valley only to have a damn helipad in my backyard.
“Sometimes I feel like I live on a military base with an Army general.”
