Tony O. Savoy

Tony O’Neil Savoy was born on May 30, 1953, in Washington, D.C.¹ Little is known about his early life at this time, but he joined the White House staff in 1974.² Initially, Savoy worked on the White House Grounds crew, working to maintain the extensive gardens and grounds. 

Later, he served as operations foreman on staff.³ In this role, he was responsible for social event preparations at the White House, including moving and rearranging furniture, laying rugs, placing stanchions and ropes, setting up stages and lighting, carrying and placing chairs, and more. He arrived each day at 5:30 a.m. to “beat beltway traffic” and “usually put in a thousand hours of overtime a year, sometimes working a solid month without a day off,” according the Kate Anderson Brower’s The Residence.⁴ Savoy saw Inauguration Day as the most important of his career, moving first families in and out in record time.⁵

Savoy allegedly had a ghostly encounter at the White House. While watering plants one day in the 1980s, he spotted the ghost of Abraham Lincoln outfitted in a grey pinstriped suit. “When I blinked he was gone,” Savoy recalled.⁶ He retired in 2013 after thirty-nine years at the White House.⁷ Tony Savoy died on May 20, 2022.⁸