Photo Caption:
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George J. Thomas, born in 1876, started his career with the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1913 as an assistant keeper at Fire Island Lighthouse in New York. In 1919 he was appointed as head keeper of the Shinnecock Bay Lighthouse. When his wife, Minnie, died in 1930, he was offer a position as the keeper of the off-shore Bullock Point Lighthouse, but he turned the position down. When Shinnecock Bay Lighthouse was going to be decommissioned, he asked for a less demanding lighthouse assignment, which he was granted. On October 16, 1931 he was transferred to the position of head keeper of Sea Girt Lighthouse in New Jersey. When the U. S Lighthouse Service was dissolved in 1939 and taken over by the Coast Guard, he opted to join the Coast Guard rather than be a civilian keeper. George J. Thomas officially retired in 1941.(Photo courtesy Jim Claflin, www.LighthouseAntiques.net.)
Back to the edition of: Sep/Oct 2012
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