BY ELENI HIMARAS
reporter@ltview.com
Another piece of the puzzle in the history of Lakeway clicked into place last week when Heritage Commission Chair Mike Boston got the opportunity to sit down with Billie (Caselli) Clark.
Clark’s former husband, the late Pierre Caselli, was the first ever manager and chef at the Lakeway Inn and Clark’s son Christopher was likely the first Anglo child born in Lakeway.

A native Frenchman, Caselli’s first job after graduating from the Cornell school of Hotel Administration was working as the deck club manager at the Commodore Perry Hotel, owned by Flint Sawtelle. Sawtelle would soon become one of the first developers of Lakeway. Pierre and the then-pregnant Billie accepted Sawtelles offer to move to Lakeway and manage it’s inn.
“It was an adventure I was really looking forward to,” Clark said. “There was nothing here. As residents built and moved into the community, most of us chose not to take Bee Cave Road into down because it was just too dark. We all took Texas 71.”
When the Caselli family arrived in Lakeway, there was the inn, a small marina, the golf shop and five spec houses. Clark, an artist, helped the architect with the designs for those initial houses.
Shortly after the family arrived, Christopher Caselli was born on July 14, 1963 – Bastille Day.
“Pierre was a Frenchman from Paris, so it was a great honor to have his son born on that day,” Clark said.
The first apartment the family lived in was attached to the main dining room. There was Billie and Pierre along with their two little girls, a brand new baby and a dog that had just had nine puppies.
“He was bombastic and outgoing and he loved entertaining,” Clark said of her late husband and why the situation worked.
“He just loved his food and his wine and his good people,” his daughter, Valery Caselli-Dubov added.
The Casellis and their adventures were will documented by Byron D. Varner in his book Lakeway – The First 25 Years. Varner wrote that once while Lyndon B. Johnson’s secret service men were staying at the hotel, Pierre got the opportunity to check out the limousine’s communication systems -which he did thoroughly by calling his mother in France for an hour.
“I suppose I’m not privy to all the stories,” Clark laughed, hearing about it for the first time.
One Lakeway anecdote she was well familiar with was the fact that Father McCabe used the Inn to hold Sunday services before the church was built.
“There weren’t many acceptable places there big enough except the bar,” Clark said. “We had service in the bar and when the service was over, the bloody marys were convenient.”
While Clark was not a Catholic, she always tried to help out, which included providing music for the Rev. McCabe during services.
“I bumbled along on the piano and when the church was built they got an organ and I learned the rudiments of that,” she said.
Clark’s mark on the ecumenical community of Lakeway when she designed and created the three built concrete statues that lead up to Emmaus Catholic Church.
The creative couple did quite a bit for the community and Clark said Pierre’s keen ability to drum up publicity for the village started early on.
“He had Santa Claus come in on water skis our first Christmas here,” Clark said.
She said they got to know each family that moved into town over the years and always felt welcomed. She recalled the whole town driving their cars down to the airstrip when planes would come in at night to shine their headlights on the runway so the pilots could land.
“It was a wonderful kind of pioneering place to bring up my kids,” she said.”
The family remained at the helm of the Inn until two or three years after after Alpert bought the inn in the early 70s. Pierre was promised a spot running the new Tennis club and when that fell through, Clark said the family moved into Austin.
Clark since moved back to her home state of Michigain but visits Texas as often as she can as two of her children still live in Austin. She brought her two daughters and her granddaughter with her so they could watch her stroll down old memories.
“I’m please that people still remember the name Caselli,” Clark said.
There is a bench in honor of Pierre Caselli sitting at the Spirit of Freedom Monument next to the Hertiage Center with an inscription reading “Pierre Caselli – A Lakeway Original.”