George Keller…
…was born on October 16th, 1898 in Cross Village Michigan.[1] Keller came from a family of lightkeepers with his brother, William serving as Third Assistant Keeper at Chicago Harbor Breakwater Light,[2] Third Assistant, First Assistant, and Head Keeper at Lansing Shoal Light,[3] and Head Keeper to Manistique East Breakwater Light.[4] Their father, August, served as Second Assistant Keeper at Beaver Island Lighthouse,[5] and Second and First Assistant Keeper at Skillagalee Lighthouse.[6]
Keller began his career as a lighthouse keeper on Racine Reef Light in Racine, Wisconsin as a Second Assistant Keeper. He served for two years from June 20th, 1918 until May 1st, 1920 and recalled it as “very lonely.”[7] The pier light was two miles from the beach and moored in 21 feet of water. Service at this station was a year round job, “and that was a rascal!” he said.[8]
On May 1st, 1920 Keller was assigned to Squaw Island as Second Assistant Keeper.[9] Squaw Island is a 69-acre piece of land six miles north of Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. With only poison ivy and snakes to keep him company he was grateful for his transfer to White Shoal as Second Assistant Keeper on June 3rd, 1922.[10]
White Shoal is not far from Keller’s birth town of Cross Village and he served on the structure until he retired as Head Lighthouse Keeper on August 31st, 1946.[11] During this time he was married to Gladys Whitemarsh of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.[12] She came from a Baptist Missionary Training School in either the Detroit or Chicago area as a school teacher in a one room schoolhouse between Harbor Springs and Cross Village. They married on April 7th, 1928.[13]
Keller was promoted to First Assistant Keeper on June 1st, 1930 serving “two weeks on, two weeks off.” Of his earnings Keller remarked, “I didn’t make much money, but golly, we didn’t starve anyway. So it wasn’t such a bad life.”[14] They had four children; his off time was spent on the family farm in Cross Village and his grandchildren share that Grandma Keller, Gladys, held the family together during Grandpas Keller’s absence. Recalling the farm Keller said, “it wasn’t much,” but supplied for the needs of the six member family.[15][16]
On January 31st, 1946 Keller was promoted to Head Lighthouse Keeper and continued to serve in this position for seven months until he retired on August 31, 1946.[17] He recalled his time working on the light, “Work, work, work. That was the workhouse of the Great Lakes. You were a prisoner. You didn’t feel like a free man. you don’t go home until the old man tells you.” All things considered he believed life on the light was good to him, “It was a really thrilling life. We were always on guard for wrecks, people adrift and people disabled on a rock, reef or a shoal.”[18] Keller passed away on January 3rd, 1984 at the age of eighty-five.[19]
Under Keller’s watch there were no fatalities or shipwrecks near White Shoal, a record he was proud of, “it would have been a bad mark on us to have a shipwreck. It sure would. It’s a very dangerous place to navigate in a storm, especially if the weather is hazy, or fog or snow or rain. You’ve got to be on your toes all the time, you know. Keep that horn a’goin’, keep that light a-flashin’.”[20]
A season on White Shoal lasted during the shipping season on the Great Lakes, usually March through November. Keller served twenty-five seasons on White Shoal Light; he is the light station’s longest serving keeper.[21] During this time the Lighthouse Service was absorbed by the United States Coast Guard. Keepers where given the option to retire, remain civilians attached to the Coast Guard, or become a part of the Coast Guard, usually at the rank of Chief Petty Officer.[22] On July 1st, 1939 Keller chose to serve as a civilian keeper attached to the Coast Guard. During Keller’s career he would have been serving at Racine Reef Light during the last months of World War I and served on White Shoal Light for the entirety of World War II.
[1]Mark Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers,” Little Traverse Trading Times, December 14-20, 1983. [2]“Chicago Harbor Breakwater Lighthouse,” Lighthouse Friends, https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=234. [3]“Lansing Shoal Light House,” Lighthouse Friends, https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=208. [4]”Manistique East Breakwater Light,” United States Coast Guard Historian’s Office, last modified September 17, 2019, https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Land/All/Article/1962150/manistique-east-breakwater-lighthouse/. [5]”Beaver Island Lighthouse,” Lighthouse Friends, https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=205. [6]“Ile Aux Galets (Skillagalee) Lighthouse,” Lighthouse Friends, https://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=207. [7]Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [8] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [9] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [10] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [11] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [12]Jill Ore, “Interview with Keller Family,” 2020. [13]Ore, “Interview with Keller Family.” [14] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [15] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [16]Ore, “Interview with Keller Family.” [17] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [18] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [19] Ore, “Interview with Keller Family.” [20] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.” [21]Ore, “Interview with Keller Family.” [22] Fellows, “Lighthouse Keeper Remembers.”
Light Listening: Stories from Behind the Lens of White Shoal 