To the Editor:
Thank you so much for featuring Bernie Webber’s memoir (Feb. 24, “The Webber Journal,” and succeeding editions), as Webber was our good buddy, and a co-worker when Dad was keeper at West Chop Lighthouse. He was always a welcome person to our house, and often would come by to help out Dad — even without us asking for help, just on his own — each time he was in town to pick up stuff for the Gay Head Lifeboat Station.
I’ve told this many times before, but when we were listening to the radio of the impossible rescue having been performed off Chatham and we found out Webber was at the helm, Dad lit right up and said: “I knew it. If anyone could have or would have done it, it would be Bernie Webber.” The thing is that on meeting this Coast Guard “boy,” as all servicemen were known back then, you knew he was extraordinary and determined to get the job done, no matter what it was.
We are so happy you are printing his journal, and I am following them closely. Several Islanders have told me about it, as my father’s name was mentioned there. I hope they all are on the Internet so I can add them to my scrapbooks. By the way, I love reading them, as this is just how Webber spoke — I recognized his speech right away.
I hope you’ve read my own book about lighthouse life, “Everyday Heroes: The True Story of a Lighthouse Family.” It’s on Amazon in both Kindle and “real book.”
Also, at the end of the last installment, Webber mentioned that sometimes the Gay Headers would “borrow” some food from their ice chest. Probably so; however, I know that there was never a house anywhere in Gay Head where the Coasties were not welcome, loved well, and fed — it was a mutual respect society up there. If anyone complains that the piece mentioned Gay Headers perhaps stealing, let it roll right off your back. The Gay Headers and the Coast Guard were a true family.
Seamond Ponsart Roberts
Pineville, La.
