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Dian McKeithen Miller, the youngest daughter of the last lighthouse keeper of the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse, passed away this past May. Before coming to the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse in Gasparilla Island, Florida, in 1941, her father, Cody McKeithen, was the lighthouse keeper at Egmont Key Lighthouse.
The family lived at Port Boca Grande Lighthouse until his retirement in 1951. Over the years she had given many talks about lighthouse life. An article about her in Country Magazine ended with this poignant memory, “When Daddy retired from the lighthouse in 1951, we moved to the mainland. I cried myself to sleep for many nights because I couldn’t hear the waves rolling in on the shore or see the sweep of the light slip past my window. Then I knew what it meant to live in a lighthouse, and I missed it terribly.”
Dian is shown here on the right in 1946 with her father, lighthouse keeper Cody McKeithen, and sister Joyce on the left. Our condolences go out to her family and friends.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2013 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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