Carey, Charles Henry. "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer Historical Pub. Co., 1922. pp. 498-501. Includes portrait HENRY THIELE. Henry Thiele, chief steward of the Benson Hotel, was born in Hanover, Germany, April 5, 1882. His father, Henry Thiele, was born in Germany and was the house master for the Count of Luxemburg, while later he became a hotel proprietor and continued in that business until his death in 1885. His wife was in her maidenhood Caroline Speecht, a native of southern Germany. She passed away in 1898. Mr. Thiele of this review was educated in the schools of Germany and France and speaks French and English with the fluency of his native tongue. After leaving school he learned the business of manufacturing all kinds of wine in southern Germany and likewise mastered the business of a confectioner, working at that trade in Switzerland for two years. He then served as apprentice to chefs in the Kaiserhoff, the Zoologischergarten and the Palace Hotel in Berlin, and in 1898 he was awarded the third prize for cooking exhibits, at which time he had completed but a year and a half of his apprenticeship, while other competitors had had forty years' experience. The piece of confectionery which won for him the third prize, was Arabian scenery made of sugar and gelatin. In 1893 Mr. Thiele came to America and, arriving at New York, engaged with the Waldorf Astoria and later was employed at the Holland House. At the opening of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, he became connected with that hostelry and later went to Nome, Alaska, for a trip. Upon returning to Seattle, he became the chief steward in the Rathskeller restaurant, where one hundred and sixty men were employed. He also owned the Frye Coffee Grill in Seattle, which he sold and later went to Canada, where he remained for but a short time. He then came to Portland and accepted the position of chief steward at the Benson Hotel in 1914. Here he introduced a novel feature, that of delivering addresses to his guests upon how their food is prepared and cooked, while the meals are being served. He also explained to them how many of the articles of their diet are grown. One particularly interesting lecture is on the fattening of the buttermilk-fed chicken. The innovation which he has introduced seems to be greatly appreciated by the guests. Mr. Thiele is now building a hotel of his own on the Columbia highway. He has selected the most beautiful spot on the drive as a site for his hotel, it being situated about a mile and a half from the town of Hood River. It is being built in Colonial design, and every room has a private bath. The grounds in which the building is located cover about twenty-four acres. The hotel is being built at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars and will be completed by the 1st of May, 1921. There are fifty-five rooms, fifty of which will have baths in connection. This is to be a strictly tourist hotel. Mr. Thiele is greatly interested in the enterprise, and it is his determination to give the very finest service on the coast, and he holds to the highest ideals, as to "best service." In establishing this hotel he is performing a work that will be greatly appreciated by the traveling public and especially by the tourists who are seen in such great numbers upon the Columbia highway. In 1911 Mr. Thiele was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Anderson, a native of Minnesota, and to them have been born four children: Henry, Margaret, Carl and Elizabeth, aged respectively, eleven, seven, two and one years. Mr. Thiele is a man of high ideals and his great aim in life is to live up to the advice in the following quotations: "Lose no chance of giving pleasure, for this is the ceaseless and anonymous triumph of a truly loving spirit. I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again." ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.