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!!!!