[keithwinstein]

I met Sally Snowman a few times -- we used to visit Boston Light 1-2 times every summer on MIT's sailboat with a group of students. She was super-welcoming and shared a ton of knowledge and stories about the lighthouse and station. We really enjoyed seeing the lens, etc., and thinking we were like the MIT students in the 1890s who lived out there to try to understand how sound traveled across the sea and create a better foghorn, I think not with a ton of success.

One time we arrived at Little Brewster and I was wearing a "captain's hat" that some friends had gotten me from West Marine, and the Coast Guard auxiliarists who helped us dock gave me a hard time, Boston-style. I think they don't love it when recreational sailors wear pretend rank insignia. They were smiling about it but I didn't wear the hat on later visits!

I hope she has a great retirement and they find somebody even half as dedicated to be her successor. The only reason Boston Light still has a keeper at all (the only one left in the country) is because Ted Kennedy and John Kerry sponsored an amendment to the 1989 Coast Guard Authorization Act to the effect that "The Boston Light shall be operated on a permanently manned basis." I just went back to look at it and in Ted Kennedy's remarks he says, "Thousands of visitors a year come out in Boston Harbor to visit to Boston Light. They learn about the history of the Light from the museum exhibits at its base. They climb the historic tower, and enjoy the view of the Boston skyline and the charm of Little Brewster Island. Most important, they gain a new understanding and appreciation of the important work of the Coast Guard and the role of Boston Light in our Nation's history." The part about thousands of visitors coming out I think is sadly no longer true. :-(