Memoriam     

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore,  it has pleased an all wise providence,  to remove from 
among us, our much esteemed friends and brother sailors.


We will cherish the memory of our deceased brother sailors, whose 
memory is indelibly stamped, that time alone cannot erase, their 
memory is ever fresh in our minds.


Though parted from among us, yet again we hope to meet them 
where no  farewell tear is shed.

 

 
BMC John Sheuman (Kaw) QM1 Leonard Mitchell (Kaw) ENC Robert W Jersak (Ojibwa)
LCDR Jack A Eckert  CWO4 Larry J Phetterplace (Chinook) EN1 John J Garzarelli (Snohomish)
CWO, Donald O. Davey (Snohomish) Thomas E. Reinhart (Chilula) VADM William Rea III (Tamaroa)
BMC Robert Y Thibault (Tuckahoe) CWO Kenneth Black (Ojibwa) ENCM Thomas Muchow (Ojibwa, Kaw)
CWO Louis J Weber (Ojibwa)

 

CWO Francis LeSage (Ojibwa 2nd CO)

If you know of a name that should be on this list, please contact us with your information.
 Include full name, rate and the CG Tug they served on. Please be sure of your info as this is a very sensitive issue.
This list is based on reports of members of the CGTA alone. Any errors will be corrected.

Thank You

 

 

 

 

  Francis J. "Pete" LeSage, CWO USCG (ret)
2nd CO of the USCGC Ojibwa

LeSage, Francis, age 92, a lifelong resident of Millis, died Wednesday morning, July 30, 2008, at Medway Country Manor in Medway.

Son of the late Peter and Anne M. (Cronin) LeSage, he embarked on a career with the United States Coast Guard in 1937. He was serving as Base Commander at the Point Judith Rhode Island Coast Guard Station at the time of his retirement. Mr. LeSage later worked for many years as an insurance agent.
Mr. Le Sage was a Communicant of St. Thomas the Apostle Church and had been a member of Rotary International, the BPOE of Kingston, RI, and the Retired Officers Association.

Predeceased by his wife, Florence I. “Alice” (Melvin) LeSage and his sister, Florence L. Cassidy, he is survived by his niece, Mary K. Cassidy, and several extended family members.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 82 Exchange Street, Millis, on Monday, August 4th at 10:00a.m. Burial with military honors will follow at Prospect Hill Cemetery.

Visiting hours will be at the Roberts-Mitchell Funeral Home, 90 Curve Street, Millis, on Sunday 2 – 4p.m.

Donations may be made in Pete’s memory to the charity of one’s choice.

http://www.robertsmitchell.com/

 

Ken Black

 

Kenneth N. Black, "Mr. Lighthouse," Is Lost
Tim Harrison - American Lighthouse Foundation

With his family and close friends around him, the man known around the world as "Mr. Lighthouse," and founder of the Maine Lighthouse Museum , CWO Kenneth Black, (USCG Retired) passed away peacefully at the Penobscot Bay Medical Center Hospital in Rockport , Maine , on Sunday, January 28 at the age of 82.

Black is largely credited as being one of the principle founders of the lighthouse preservation movement in the United States, and the first person to have a national newsletter about lighthouses, which always ended with his personal comments and the statement, "Be neighborly," a philosophy that he was known to live by.

Born on June 29, 1923, Black was a Coast Guard veteran of World War II and he saw action at the invasion of Okinawa . After the war served throughout New England and the Great Lakes in various capacities including, being OIC at the Point Allerton, Massachusetts Life Boat Station; Commanding Officer
of a lightship; Group Commander of the Quoddy Head Coast Guard Station in Lubec, Maine; Commander of the Coast Guard Cutter OJIBWA and he finished his over 32-year Coast Guard career as Commanding Officer of the Rockland, Maine, Coast Guard Station.

His interest is saving lighthouse artifacts began when he realized that many items were being discarded as automation changed 
the way lighthouses had been operating since the late 1700's. He first created an exhibit at the 
base of Boston Lighthouse in the 1960's, an exhibit that is still there to this day. As well as being the first Coast Guardsman to decorate a lighthouse at Christmastime, he stared the First Marine Exhibit at the Rockland Coast Guard Station, which evolved into the largest collection of 
lighthouse lenses and equipment in America. By the time he had retired from the Coast Guard in 1973 he was the official curator of the First Coast Guard District.

When the collection at the Rockland Coast Guard base outgrew its quarters, it moved to the Shore Village Museum building on Limerock Street in Rockland, Maine and Black spent the next 30 years traveling all over New England searching out artifacts. While doing so, many people heard what he was doing and stepped forward to help and donated other artifacts. Some artifacts were easy to get to the museum, while others such as priceless Frensel lenses or fog bells and foghorns weighing thousands of pounds were more difficult.

Two years ago the gigantic collection, through the help of civic-minded community leaders, moved to its new headquarters on the Rockland waterfront in a recently renovated building where it was renamed the Maine Lighthouse Museum. Although Ken slowed down a bit in recent months, he was still active in many community events and the ongoing development of the new Maine Lighthouse Museum. He was present just a few weeks ago for the press conference announcing the consolidation of the collection of the American Lighthouse Foundation's Museum of Lighthouse History. That merger will now create the largest lighthouse museum in the United States as well as being a Mecca for lighthouse buffs and an important Maine tourist attraction.

Black made famous the phrase that he coined, "Lighthouses are like people, they come in many different sizes, shapes and colors," which was also the title of his popular slide presentation that he proudly presented an estimated thousand times, while always promoting the importance of 
lighthouse preservation.

Although retired for many years, Ken spent many long hours every week in the last thirty-five years volunteering his services to the lighthouse community and other worthwhile causes such as the Salvation Army, Rotary, Shriners and the American Lighthouse Foundation. He received countless awards such as the Coast Guard 'Public Service Commendation,' the Harbour Lights 'Lifetime Achievement' award, the Lighthouse Digest, 'Beacon of Light' award, and the American Lighthouse Foundation's 'Keeper of the Light' Award, to name a few. Even a book about life after retirement included a full chapter about Ken Black.

When the United States Coast Guard wanted to honor him at the dedication last year of the CWO Kenneth Black Exhibition Hall at the Maine Lighthouse Museum, they couldn't find an award to honor him with because he had already been honored over the years with every award or honor the Coast Guard has to offer. But not to let that stop them, the Guard arranged for a special honor to be given to him by the Foundation for Coast Guard History for his saving of hundreds of artifacts that might otherwise have been lost forever. At that time he was also honored with special commendations from The Maine State Legislature, the Maine State Senate, the Governor of Maine, The City of Rockland, Lighthouse Digest Magazine, various Coast Guard units, the 
United States Congress and the one that he loved the best was the special personal recognition from the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Black was also proud of the fact that his wife Dot serves as President of the Friends of Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation and he loved it when friends would call his wife, "Mrs. Lighthouse."

During retirement, Black and his wife lived happily in Union, Maine, away from the ocean. Black said, that other than the in-ground swimming pool in his backyard, he tried to stay away from the water as much as possible because he spent so many years on the water that he preferred the land life of the green rolling hills where he loved the wild birds that he kept well supplied with food. In later years he would only go on the water for fund raising cruises for lighthouse preservation or to visit a lighthouse.

Tim Harrison, president of the American Lighthouse Foundation, said that Black knew more about the mechanics of vintage lighthouse equipment than anyone, anywhere. Fortunately, for the sake of future generations, Black recorded on film a number of tapes where he explained what each artifact in the collection was used for and why it was used.

Harrison went on to say, "Ken Black never did any of this for personal recognition or gain, he did it because it was the right thing to do. He felt it was vital to save lighthouse artifacts to help future generations learn why lighthouses and the people who kept them played such an important role in the development of our nation into being a world leader. He was proud of what he accomplished, yet he was very humble about it, in fact he used to be almost embarrassed when he was honored."

But more importantly said Harrison, "We have all lost a man who served his nation well, served his community well, served his family well, and was a friend to so many people whose lives he touched in many different ways. He will be greatly missed, but we will never let his legacy be forgotten, a legacy that will live forever at the Maine Lighthouse Museum."

Black leaves behind a wife Dorothy (Dot), stepson Joe and his wife Wanda, stepson Jim, and his wife Franny, and his grandsons Keegan, Travis and Christopher.

A wake will be held on Wednesday, January 31 from 2 PM to 4 PM and form 6 PM to 8 PM at the Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, in Rockland, Maine. The funeral home is directly next door to what was once the Shore Village Museum where Ken Black's lighthouse collection was housed for 30 some years before it moved to the new Maine Lighthouse 
Museum on the city's waterfront.

The funeral service will held at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland on Thursday, February 1 at 11 AM.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations be made to the One Hundred Million Dollar Club of the Shriners or to the Maine Lighthouse Museum, P.O. Box F, Rockland, ME 04841.

Sympathy cards can be sent to, Dot Black, 174 Sennebec Rd., Union, ME 04862

Commandant's Bulletin

R 020038Z FEB 07 ZUI ASN-A00033000001

FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-00//

TO ALCOAST

BT

UNCLAS

ALCOAST 057/07

SUBJ: DEATH OF A COAST GUARD LUMINARY  

1. I AM SAD TO REPORT THE PASSING OF A COAST GUARD LUMINARY. CWO

KENNETH BLACK (USCG RETIRED) DIED ON 28 JANUARY AT THE AGE OF 83.  

2. CWO BLACK LED AN INSPIRED LIFE, BOTH IN THE COAST GUARD AND IN

THE YEARS TO FOLLOW.  BORN IN 1923, HE ENLISTED DURING WORLD WAR II

AND SAW ACTION AT THE INVASION OF OKINAWA . AFTER THE WAR, HE SERVED

THROUGHOUT NEW ENGLAND AND THE GREAT LAKES IN VARIOUS CAPACITIES,

INCLUDING AS A COMMANDING OFFICER OF A LIGHTSHIP AND A CUTTER.  HE

CAPPED HIS 32 YEAR COAST GUARD CAREER AS THE COMMANDING OFFICER OF

STATION ROCKLAND , MAINE .  

 

3. MANY REMEMBER HIM FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY CONTRIBUTIONS FOLLOWING

HIS CAREER.  LARGELY CREDITED AS A LEADER OF THE LIGHTHOUSE

PRESERVATION MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES, HE FOUNDED THE MAINE

LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM AND BECAME WIDELY KNOWN AS "MR. LIGHTHOUSE."  HIS

INTEREST IN PRESERVATION BEGAN AS AN EFFORT TO SAVE HISTORICAL

LIGHTHOUSE ARTIFACTS DURING THE MOVE TO AUTOMATION.  HE STARTED

WITH EXHIBITS AT COAST GUARD STATIONS, AND THEN AFTER RETIREMENT,

HE SPENT YEARS TRAVELING AROUND NEW ENGLAND TO SEARCH FOR PIECES.

AS THE WORD SPREAD, OTHERS STEPPED FORWARD TO DONATE MORE

ARTIFACTS. THESE INCLUDED ITEMS OF ALL TYPES AND SIZES, EVERYTHING

FROM PRICELESS LENSES TO FOG SIGNALING DEVICES, SOME OF THESE

WEIGHING THOUSANDS OF POUNDS.  

4.  TWO YEARS AGO, WITH THE HELP OF COMMUNITY LEADERS, HIS

COLLECTION WAS MOVED INTO THE MAINE LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM , ESTABLISHED

ON THE ROCKLAND WATERFRONT. JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO, IT WAS ANNOUNCED

THAT IT WOULD BE CONSOLIDATED WITH THE COLLECTION OF THE AMERICAN

LIGHTHOUSE FOUNDATION'S MUSEUM OF LIGHTHOUSE HISTORY. THE MERGER

WILL BECOME THE LARGEST LIGHTHOUSE MUSEUM IN THE UNITED STATES.  

5.  CWO BLACK COINED THE PHRASE, "LIGHTHOUSES ARE LIKE PEOPLE -

THEY COME IN MANY DIFFERENT SIZES, SHAPES AND COLORS," WHICH NOT

ONLY EXHIBITED HIS APPRECIATION FOR HISTORY AND PRESERVATION, BUT

ALSO SHOWED HIS ABIDING RESPECT FOR PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE.  

6.  THROUGHOUT HIS 83 YEARS, HE PUT SERVICE FIRST, BOTH TO THE

NATION AND HIS COMMUNITY.  HE RECEIVED COUNTLESS ACCOLADES AND

COMMENDATIONS, AND YET WAS KNOWN FOR HIS HUMILITY. CWO BLACK

PRESERVED AN IMPORTANT PART OF AMERICAN HISTORY FOR FUTURE

GENERATIONS AND LEAVES A TREMENDOUS LEGACY.  

7.  ADM THAD W. ALLEN SENDS.  

8.  INTERNET RELEASE AUTHORIZED.

BT

NNNN

 

 

 

 

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