About Me

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After retirement, for two summers I worked as a tour guide at the Umpqua River Lighthouse in Oregon. This opportunity enabled me to learn more about that lighthouse than any of the others I've seen. Although I have personally visited and photographed over 300 lighthouses in the United States and three Provinces in Canada, the Umpqua River Lighthouse has special meaning for me. That Lighthouse inspired me to write two fictional books with the characters working, living, and enduring the challenges of lighthouse keeping. All pictures posted in this blog were taken by myself, unless noted otherwise.

Book Info.

I hope you will find time to enjoy my books. Preview the book covers below at the right side of page.

Book #1: "The Wickie and the Umpqua Lighthouse." Detail: "The Wickie and the Umpqua Lighthouse" is an 1860's story about the lighthouse keepers and their families at the Umpqua River Lighthouse. It will stir your emotions and warm your heart. Discover the challenges they met but never expected, and their determination to maintain navigational aid to mariners on the Oregon coast. (Wickie is a nickname used by the early lighthouse keepers at the Umpqua River Lighthouse in OR.)

Book #2: "Spirit of The Lighthouse" is a sequel to The Wickie. Detail: Jesse Fayette, assistant keeper at the Umpqua River Lighthouse, finds himself alone to operate and maintain an Oregon lighthouse after the accidental death of his head keeper. After notifying the Lighthouse Board and requesting help, he is surprised but must deal with an acquaintance, Red Saunders, who believes the lighthouse is haunted.

Book #3: "Unexpected Moments" has a different theme than those of Book #1 and #2. Detail: Dan and Megan, as well as their old friends Jim and Anna, experience unexpected moments of hardships and tragedies in Arizona and California. Will they survive these unexpected moments and find any hope for their futures?

All of my books are available on Amazon.

10 December 2015

Remembering Pearl Harbor and The Lighthouses of Hawaii

Let me be clear about this post. There is no intention on my part to take away or decrease the honor and respect we should have for those individuals who gave their lives defending the USA. This post is only to highlight the lighthouses.

On Dec 7th 1941 at 7:48 am, over three-hundred-fifty Japanese Fighter Planes attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This attack destroyed many lives and property, and started World War II. 

 In school as a young boy, I learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor. For you it may have been a different time and place. In fact, you may have a loved one who was there and told you of his or her personal experience that dreadful Dec morning. No matter when we learned of it, each year since the tragedy we are reminded via various media of the tragic event. As it should be, the spotlight is on the attack and the loss of lives. To my knowledge, none of the reports say anything about whether or not lighthouses were impacted. This week as I remembered Pearl Harbor, for some reason I wondered about the lighthouses.

So, did the attack on Pearl Harbor have any impact on Hawaii's lighthouses and their keepers? My research revealed several examples to the affirmative, but for brevity I'll share these few.
 

The Barbers Point Lighthouse pictured below, the Makapu'u Lighthouse, and Diamond Head Lighthouse are all located near Honolulu on the eastern end of the island of Oahu. These three are part of the major lighthouses mentioned below the picture. Most likely, the Keepers for each of these lighthouses saw some of the fighter planes flying overhead or nearby their lighthouse that morning.

The Head Keeper at the Barbers Point Lighthouse documented his observation of the attack. In a letter he wrote a few days later, he described several events which occurred at his light station that morning. About one of those events he wrote the following: "At 8:00 am many planes were seen overhead, both Japanese and ours. Dog fighting continued for twenty minutes, bullets hitting the ground in bursts. Then all planes headed south, our planes chasing them. Seemed to have come from the windward side, and left the island on Barbers Point side." (Credit: LighthouseFriends for the quote from Keeper's letter.)


                                              (Credit: Kraig Anderson; LighthouseFriends)

Throughout the islands of Hawaii there are a total of forty-three (43) lighthouses. Nine (9) of them are classified as major lights and thirty-four (34) are minor lights. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, every lighthouse had its light darkened and continued dark for the duration of the war. (Credit: LighthouseFriends.)

During the war, the Keeper's Dwelling at Diamond Head Lighthouse housed a Coast Guard Radio Station. 

I've been to Hawaii and visited the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, but regret I was not able to visit a lighthouse.



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