Chapter 13 MERGER 287 beat the boss to work. On my first day of work, I arrived at 8:15 and Ed said hello as I passed his office. The next day I arrived at 8:10 and Ed said hello. Finally on Friday, after coming earlier each day, I arrived at 7:30, confident that no hello would be heard from Ed. At 8:15, I looked into his office and he wasn’t there. I asked another man where Littlefield was, and he said, “He’s not here. He took the 7:00 plane to Chicago.” Travers finished by describing the company’s profit-sharing plan and how that opportunity had financially benefitted him. When Littlefield returned to the microphone he said, “Thank you, Mr. Travers. You always speak well, but you don’t always speak briefly.” Amid roars of laughter, he continued, “Perhaps your long speeches come from attending too many meetings of the Alameda Town Council,” a wry allusion to a hot spot for Utah’s land development activities in the 1950s. The meeting adjourned at 10:47. As the shareholders began to rise, chatting and expressing satisfaction about the merger, a woman later identified as Emily Marie Kass, a friend of “a cousin,” stood and insisted on being recognized by the chair. She proclaimed, “I would like to move that we extend appreciation to all those who have made the company what it is, and I propose a moment of silence in honor of E. O. Wattis, the founder of the company, and all those who have died in pursuit of company business.” This gesture symbolically set the fabulous success and growth the company had achieved by 1976 against the early rivalries of the W. H. and E. O. Wattis families. Both family members and employees knew about the brothers’ closeness, for they shared a most uncommon and intimate bond. Yet their deaths initiated frequent disagreements between their families about whose grandfather had contributed more or whose family should run the show at Utah headquarters. Without missing a beat, Littlefield responded, “If youll amend that proposal to include all the founders of the company, the chair will recognize that motion.” No one contested his suggestion. The motion was seconded and passed, ending with an appropriate moment of silent respect and contemplation for Utah’s leaders.