THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9410210340
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 171 lines
FOR THE PAST 2 1/2 YEARS Coast Guardsman Tom Sage has been the keeper of the Cape Henry Light.
Early each morning the third class machinery technician rises to fulfill his primary mission: to make sure the 3,000 candle power light and its radio signals are beaming out into the Atlantic to warn deep-sea mariners that they are approaching the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the shifting shoals that flank the shipping channels leading to it.
First, he walks the 30 or so yards from his house to the base of the 163-foot-high beacon, steps inside the cast-iron structure and checks the lights, switches and dials adorning a boxy, gray computer that controls the navigational aids at the site.
Next, he walks another 100 or so yards to his office, called the ``station,'' to check on more radio gear.
Once satisfied that no fuses are blown, light bulbs burned out or circuits shorted, he moves on to more mundane - but equally important - chores such as keeping the buildings and grounds of the 2 1/2-acre Coast Guard compound inside Fort Story painted, patched, scrubbed and picked clean of litter.
``I'm pretty much my own boss,'' he says. ``Today I was going to pressure-wash the station and start painting next week.''
With sprayer, ladder and buckets in hand he methodically goes about covering the nicks in the old light and the bare patches on the wood and brick out-buildings with oil-based paint. He replaces the shingles blown off the roofs in violent storms, repairs plumbing in adjoining housing or mows the grass on the periphery of the compound.
DUTY AT CAPE HENRY is not all monotony, however. Last Saturday morning, after a storm swept through Hampton Roads, Sage was forced to shed his Coast Guard blues and regulation shoes and swim out to a catamaran that had been lodged on a sand bar for a week, about 200 yards off Chick's Beach. The radio equipment had shorted out and the lone crew member was unable to communicate with anyone ashore.
``I had to swim out and tell that guy that he had to get off,'' Sage said, ``because the Coast Guard was going to pull the boat off the sand bar later in the day. That water was cold!''
Then, there was the hurricane in August 1993. ``The only bad storm we've had since I've been here was the hurricane that hit Hatteras,'' Sage said. ``I had to make sure everything was secure and put up my tenants (there are two other Coast Guard families that live on the compound) in a hotel at Military Circle. My wife loved it, because she could go shopping at the mall.
``Everybody else here at the base went into bunkers. I was pretty much alone here.''
Despite the occasional excitement, tending the Cape Henry Light basically is a solitary role. Sage does what he feels needs doing each day, without the supervision of higher-ups, although he ultimately answers to the brass at the Coast Guard's 5th District headquarters in Portsmouth.
THE CAPE HENRY LIGHT is one of the few Coast Guard-operated lights in the country that comes with a caretaker like Sage, who lives on the site, said Lt. j.g. Andrew Niemann, at the Coast Guard's aids to navigation office in Washington.
The only manned lighthouse left under the Coast Guard's supervision these days is in Boston, the first such light ever commissioned by the U.S. government.
``Senator Kennedy decided that since it was the first manned light, it should stay manned,'' said Niemann. ``It's not automated like the rest.''
Every other light tended by the Coast Guard is either operated by a generator or solar power, and requires only periodic checks by Coast Guard personnel, he explained.
Existing buildings at a few lighthouses around the country are used to house Coast Guardsmen and sometimes their families.
``Generally the person who lives there will be the groundskeeper,'' said Niemann. ``But they're not responsible for the light like the old light keeper was. They'll just do general work - mow the lawn, cut the shrubbery, stuff like that.''
Sage does all of the above, plus aids navigational work, Niemann conceded, but is not officially considered a light keeper by the Coast Guard.
Whether the title is official or not, Sage takes great pride in his work and his place in the sprawling, seacoast Army enclave that is Fort Story.
``I'm the only Coast Guard representative on base,'' he said, ``and I work with the Army.''
Another part of Sage's job is conducting occasional tours through Cape Henry Light, shepherding mostly school groups up the 207 steps to the rotating lantern itself.
``I enjoy doing tours with the kids,'' said Sage. ``It helps explain what the Coast Guard does.''
SAGE AND HIS WIFE, BOBBI, and their four children live in a sturdy white, brick house at the base of the light with a shaggy, 3-year-old, mixed breed dog named Spice. The Sages are among 1,700 military and civilian personnel who work and sometimes live at Fort Story.
Their daily life doesn't differ much from that of any another middle-income householder in Virginia Beach, except that Sage can get to work merely by stepping out the back door.
Bobbi, after sending her two oldest - Michael, 6, and Jessica, 5 - off to John B. Dey Elementary School each morning, drives to her job with a local telephone answering service.
The two younger ones - Matthew, 3, and Kaylor, 10 months - will be placed in day care by next week, freeing Mom and Dad to do their jobs on weekdays.
The life of a light keeper's wife seems to suit Bobbi, but there are a few drawbacks.
``I like having a house,'' she said. ``The kids can run around and play. But I'm bothered by the visitors who come during the summer. They seem to think this is an office and just walk in any old time.''
Social life and entertainment is constrained by family and job responsibilities, Sage concedes.
``We don't go out too often,'' he said. ``With four kids it's kind of hard to go places.''
Bobbi shops for groceries at the nearest Navy commissary and manages to hit local shopping malls, when the mood strikes her. ``I don't mind driving,'' she said with a smile in discussing forays to places such as Lynnhaven or Pembroke malls.
The Sages, both in their mid 20s, are high school sweethearts who moved to Hampton Roads from their hometown of San Diego about four years ago.
Tom Sage joined the Coast Guard 5 1/2 years ago after a brief post-high school career as an electrician in Las Vegas. At the moment, although life is good at the Cape Henry Light, he is undecided about an extended career in the Coast Guard. Returning to life as a civilian has some allure.
``If I get out of here,'' he said between puffs on a cigarette, ``I'm gonna move back to Las Vegas and be an electrician.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
The U.S. Coast Guard Cape Henry Light Station at Fort Story has been
in continuous operation since 1881. It is one of the few Coast Guard
operated lights in the country that comes with a caretaker like
Sage, who lives on the site.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Tom Sage, a Coast Guard machinist
technician, volunteered for the job of Cape Henry Lighthouse keeper
at Fort Story.
Sage, 26, climbs the 207 steps to the top of the 163-foot high
lighthouse at least once a day to check out lightbublbs and other
fixtures.
Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Tom Sage keeps the buildings and grounds of the 2 1/2-acre Coast
Guard compound inside Fort Story painted, patched, scrubbed and
picked clean of litter.
RIGHT: Tom Sage, his wife Bobbi and their four children - Michael,
6, left; Jessica, 5, right; Matthew, 3; and Kaylor, 10-months - live
in a sturdy white, brick house at the base of the light.
LEFT: Sage walks with Jessica after seeing her off the bus from
school.
SHEDDING SOME LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
The Cape Henry Light, which stands 163 feet tall and is made of
cast iron, has been in continuous operation since it was built in
1881.
It stands in the shadow of the original Cape Henry Lighthouse,
which was commissioned by Congress in 1789 and completed in 1792.
The new lighthouse was an officially manned station until
September 1983, when it was electronically retrofitted and became a
fully automated aid to navigation.
The old lighthouse, an octagonal brick structure that stands 92
feet tall, was entrusted to the care of the Association for the
Preservation of Virginia Antiquities by the federal government in
1930.
Both lighthouses are open to public tours.
KEYWORDS: CAPE HENRY LIGHT LIGHTHOUSE
by CNB