By Gretchen Millich, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-935390.mp3
Lansing, MI – A few years ago, Pat Majher was researching an exhibit for the Michigan Women's Historical Museum in Lansing. She stumbled across an article in Michigan History Magazine. It noted that Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state and employed more women as lighthouse keepers. That led to an exhibit on an overlooked part of Great Lakes maritime history.
Majher is now editor of Michigan History Magazine and has a new book on the women who worked in a profession dominated by men.
Majher told WKAR's Gretchen Millich that lighthouse keeping was hard work and often dangerous.
Pat Majher: The keepers were expected to go out and help boats that were foundering and rescue shipwrecked sailors. Plus, just the sheer power of all that had to be done with that job, I mean you were hauling oil up stairs to the top of the tower to light the lamps, you were maintaining fog horns, you were doing everything you could to keep the whole light station functioning for the sake of the sailors. So, it was a difficult job for men and obviously a difficult job for women, too. Especially since so many of the women were also mothers, so they were keeping the kids fed and clothed and keeping the light station clean and then doing all of their duties on top of that.
Gretchen Millich: How did women get into this? Were they married to a lighthouse keeper and then took over when their husband died?
Majher: Generally, yes, they did take over upon the death of a husband. Although many women then went on to serve for many years on their own merits. A couple of women were actually transferred between lights, so that indicated that the Lighthouse Service supported them and felt they were doing their job. But there was actually a Lighthouse Service effort to employ these widows, partly because it was easy for them. They figured if the person is already there, they know the job, they've probably done parts of the job. It'll be easier to have that person continue. And partly out of concern for women, often mothers, who had to do something to support their families.
Millich: Most people when they think of a lighthouse keeper, they think they're living a very lonely and isolated life. Was that true?
Majher: It was in some cases. Women weren't allowed to serve as the primary keeper on islands, for their own safety. But they assisted their husband as island lighthouse keepers and those could be very remote. There were also islands that were simply a rock. It had nothing to it except the lighthouse, the tower and the ground beneath them. There was a woman who assisted her husband on Isle Royale, which is probably our most remote posting and there were also women who were assistants and full-fledged keepers on the Detroit River, so they were literally just a mile from shore and could easily get into the big city. So, it varied.
Millich: One of the great parts in the book was when you got a chance to interview a woman who is probably the last surviving female lighthouse keeper in Michigan. She was really good at describing what it was like, the hard work, but also, she had alt of fun.
Majher: You're talking about Frances Marshall. At the time she was Frances Wuori, and she had married a lighthouse keeper at White River, which is just north of Muskegon. She loved Lake Michigan. She loved being on the lake and was quite an accomplished swimmer. She saved many people's lives, who would come to visit the area for a week or whatever and weren't aware of the kind of riptides you cold experience in Lake Michigan. She would hear or see someone struggling in the water and she'd be out the door and in the water and saving their lives. She is the last surviving lady lighthouse keeper. She served from 1944 to 1954.
Millich: She was invited to go on that old TV show, "What's My Line?"
Majher: Yes, she had a friend who had a friend and her name got passed along to the crew at "What's My Line?" and she got called and asked if she would come to be on that show. So, she took a train all the way across Michigan and then across Canada, down the Hudson River into New York City. She stumped the panel. They couldn't figure out what she did for a living. She just spent a couple of days there, but she had a great time. It really was her only vacation when she was a keeper, just those few days out of her life in the 1950's to go to New York City and kind of be treated like a queen.
Pat Majher, the editor of Michigan History Magazine, spoke with Gretchen Millich. Her new book is "Ladies of the Lights."