This is part two of a two part interview with Wayne and Sally Wheeler, recorded in Washington state in March 2024. Wayne is a former Coast Guard officer who founded the U.S. Lighthouse Society in San Francisco in 1984, and he is now the president emeritus of the Society.
The idea for the formation of the Society blossomed when Wayne became the chief of the Aids to Navigation Branch for northern California. Most of the inquiries the Coast Guard’s public affairs staff was receiving involved lighthouses—and Wayne had the knowledge and the books to answer them. He developed a lecture about lighthouses, and one day he went home to his wife, Sally, and said, “Boy, there’s a lot of lighthouse enthusiasts out there. They ought to get organized.” And 40 years ago, the United States Lighthouse Society was born.
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U.S. Lighthouse Society Historian Jeremy D’Entremont is the author of 24 books and hundreds of articles on lighthouses and maritime history. He is a past president of the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society’s weekly podcast, “Light Hearted.” He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org
Fabulous, Jeremy!!!!
Just found your interview with Wayne Wheeler. What a treat!
Closed my eyes and listened to his voice. I could listen to Wayne telling his stories forever.
Memories of the lighthouse hunting years.
The Charles Wingate song started playing in my head:
“My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light
And he slept with a mermaid one fine night.
Out of this union there came three;
A porpoise and a porgy and the other was me!
Yo ho ho, the wind blows free.
Oh for the life on the rolling sea!”………..
Thanks for your comment, Steve. Wayne is one of a kind and one of the fathers of the modern lighthouse preservation movement. Regarding the song – Burl Ives and the Brothers Four recorded great versions, among others. Once, when I was lecturing in front of a large audience, I was asked if I knew any lighthouse songs. I actually sang the first verse of “Eddystone Light,” the first and only time I’ve sung in front of an audience.