Sparkling career for 7 presidents
For more than three decades, Stewart Calvin Stevens Sr. cleaned the windows, the doors and the chandeliers at the White House — and often a lot more.
“I cleaned everything . . . except the dishes,” said Stevens. “I cleaned all of the doors . . . the china cabinets, the wall sconces . . . I cleaned everything glass at the White House except for what the president ate out of.”
And when he was done cleaning, Stewart would occasionally slip out of his blue work clothes and into a tuxedo to check coats for state dinners.
Stevens retired in 2002, but his mementos and his memories serve as a reminder of how much of the nation’s history was made by ordinary men and women whose lives intersected with extraordinary events.
Stevens, who is black, said his collection of letters and artifacts tells not just his story but that of change.
“I enjoyed checking coats at the state dinners because I got a chance to meet people like Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Aretha Franklin and many others,” Stevens said. “My favourite was Sylvester Stallone, Rocky. He walked in the White House wearing a tailor-made tuxedo. I told him, ‘Mr. Stallone, you look wonderful,’ and he said ‘Thank you, sir.’ ”
One recent afternoon, Stevens reflected on his days at the White House and his regret that he retired before he could see the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, reside in the building.
Stevens was one of 13 children. He made it to the seventh grade but had to drop out to find work to help his family. After serving in the National Guard, he was unable to get a job as a police officer or a firefighter, Stevens said.
“I had taken a test for the fire department and the police department and passed both tests,” Stevens writes in his self-published book, noting there was a lot of racial discrimination in Washington at the time.
His solution was to join one of his brothers in starting a window-washing service. Their work got noticed, and Stevens got a temporary pass to work at the White House. He had been there about six months when he spotted two chandeliers in Cross Hall, the broad hallway on the first floor of the White House. They looked pretty dirty, so he asked the building supervisor if he might clean them.
“When I finished and got down off the scaffold . . . and everybody else saw how the chandeliers sparkled like diamonds, the word got around.”
That was1969. He would soon be a full-time employee of the White House. It was the early-morning hours, cleaning the glass doors between the White House residence and the West Wing, however, that allowed him to interact with several presidents.
Most of the presidents were early risers, he said, and a brief “Good morning, Mr. President” is what he would offer them as they made their start.
He never interacted with Richard Nixon — he came to the office a bit later than the others — but Stevens was there to greet Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George H.W. and George W. Bush.
Treasured memories include Clinton offering him words of comfort when Stevens’ mother died.
He is proud that, in all his years cleaning the chandeliers, not one crystal was broken.