Life Lines, November 2018

Welcome to Life Lines the monthly newsletter for our members, and also to anyone reading this that has not yet become a member of the U.S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association. For those of you reading and have yet to join, please consider doing so. Your membership will get you access to the station inventory link and our new venture to create a “Surfmans’ Data Base.” If you would like to join please go to https://uslife-savingservice.org/join-donate-support/

Publications Now Available as Print-on-Demand

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The two books that the USLSSHA produced are now available by print-on-demand at lulu.com.  Search for either “They Had to Go Out” or “Rescue: The Stories of the U.S. Life-Saving Service” edited by John Galluzzo.  If you have not added these two books to your library here is your chance to do so.

Florence and Michael Spare the Outer Banks and the 2018 USLSSHA Annual Meeting.

The annual conference on the Outer Banks was well attended. The weather was sunny and warm for the event. Hurricane Michael did blow winds for one night and also blew water over the road to Hatteras. Instead of using the bus, the group broke into small groups and car pooled to sites south to Hatteras. Each vehicle taking turns to drive the high part of the road and be out of the brackish water where over the road.

Overall the conference was well attended, good speakers, great presentations, and tours of different stations, cemetery presentations, meeting families and descendants, and visiting sites both private and public. The residents of the Outer Banks are well informed about the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, and it was a pleasure to experience their history first hand.

Keep a look out in future Wreck and Rescue for more detailed information on the annual conference on the Outer Banks.

US Coast Guard honors first Keeper of US Lifesaving Station #10 Louisville, Kentucky

The USLSSHA efforts in Louisville to honor the boatsmen of Louisville, KY have led to the U.S. Coast Guard also honoring the first Keeper. To read more information on this event go to the following site: https://www.wave3.com/2018/10/01/us-coast-guard-honors-first-keeper-us-lifesaving-station/

You will also see Dick Ryder’s bronze markers embedded into the stone.

Historians for this station always marveled how these heroes had not been remembered and their graves left unmarked forgetting their bravery. This has now been rectified and forever changed for the boatsmen of Station #10.

Plum Island, Wisconsin USLSS Station

The USLSSHA provided a $5000 grant to the Friends of Plum and Pilot Islands to continue foundation and wall restoration of the station in 2018. Mary Beth Volmer, President updated the board with the following information:

I wanted to give you an update on the Life-Saving Station gutter project … like many remodeling projects, you often uncover more work that needs to be done than when you started. We learned that the north wall of the LSS had been withstanding some severe water damage and needed to be replaced, so that has pushed our timeline out a bit. Coincidentally the reason for the water damage was due to the lack of gutters! We plan to have the gutters installed yet this season and I will give you an update as soon as that happens. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of our new wall!

The board is happy that our financial assistance was helpful in stabilizing this important structure. Continue the good work on Plum Island.

Any readers who have a grant request can do so by going to https://uslife-savingservice.org/grant/ to complete a grant application.

New Life for an Old Station on Wood Island, Maine

This project continues to be a shining example of when a community comes together to restore an important resource to preserve their history.

The Maine Army National Guard came to the rescue and built the north seawall, the historic shed and worked on electrical and plumbing systems. They believe the value of the labor they donated to the Wood Island project was worth $623,000 – great training for the Guard, exceptional value for Kittery.

The good news is they are ready to do it all again in 2019! If you want to read more about this effort please go to the following link. http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181007/new-life-for-life-saving-station

Rochester, New York is the Location for the 2019 Annual Conference

The 2019 Annual Conference and Meeting will be in Rochester, New York. The tentative dates are October 3 – 5, 2019. The conference agenda will cover stations at Oswego, Niagara, and Buffalo. Additional tours and programming are in the planning stages. Watch this site and Wreck and Rescue for more information. Mark your calendar now.

If you have a story to submit for the next Life Lines please contact us through our website.

Also consider joining the Life Lines staff. We are now three and more are welcome to join us. If you wanted to have a role or contribute to the organization this is your opportunity to do so.