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Keeper George Harrison Wheeler (b. 1893) served at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse for a total of 21 years. He started as 4th assistant in 1928 and worked his way up to 1st assistant by February of 1932, when he married 24-year-old Virginia Stiltner from Washington. It was a second marriage for 38-year-old George, and he wanted to settle down and have a family with Virginia, so he was able to secure a transfer that year to Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island in Washington, which was a very nice family station.
Virginia got pregnant right away and they were excited to expect their first child by the end of that year. Tragically, Virginia gave birth prematurely to their daughter on October 29, and little Lucy Virginia Wheeler only lived for two days. She was buried in the Stuart Island cemetery about a mile away from the lighthouse on November 1st.
George and Virginia were totally devastated. George couldn’t deal with the loss and the following week he went to a local establishment and got drunk. Unfortunately, he returned to the lighthouse in that condition and was promptly dismissed from the Lighthouse Service on November 7th since this was during the time of prohibition and drinking on duty was not tolerated.
George and Virginia went back to live with her family in Lewis County, Washington, to try to endure their grief. According to the family, they never did get over little Lucy’s death and never had another child.
In 1935, George got back into the good graces of the Lighthouse Service and returned to Tillamook Rock, but only as a 3rd assistant. The next year, he was promoted back to the same position as 1st assistant from when he had left three years earlier. George remained 1st assistant under head keeper Ed Laschinger for the next nine years and finally was able to be promoted to head keeper upon Laschinger’s retirement in 1945.
Meanwhile, George’s wife, Virginia, who worked as an operator for the telephone company, maintained a home in Astoria where George would come to relax on his leaves from the Rock. It was on a two-week leave in September of 1952, that George was out fishing in a boat with some friends at the mouth of the Columbia River. According to AP newspaper reports, “He slipped on the deck of the troller Groth and splashed into the waves at the river entrance.
“He bobbed to the surface, and set out swimming strongly for the boat. Just as those aboard were about to haul him up, he collapsed. He was dead by the time they could pull him aboard. There was a gash on his head, perhaps suffered when he fell overboard.
“A resident of Astoria, he had been with the lighthouse service and – since 1939 – as a civilian in the Coast Guard more than 20 years. Only three days ago, he finished another of his six-week shifts on the lighthouse, and was home for a two-week period.”
Had George lived, he would probably have remained on Tillamook Rock until it was decommissioned five years later in 1957 and become the longest-serving keeper there at 26 years, beating Robert Gerlof’s record of 25 years. As it was, he was the second longest-serving keeper at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
Virginia Stiltner Wheeler lived until she was 97 years old, but never remarried. She is buried in the Stiltner Memorial Cemetery in Morton, Washington along with her brother, Clifford Stiltner and his wife, Sadie, who both visited Tillamook Rock with her so many years ago.
George Harrison Wheeler was laid to rest in the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. He was only 58 when he died. It is hoped that one day, a U.S. Lighthouse Service Memorial Marker can be placed at his grave to honor his long service at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.
This story appeared in the
Jul/Aug 2023 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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