FANNIE MAY SALTER

 

Photos: U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard's Fannie May Salter took over the watch at Maryland's Turkey Point Light after her husband, lightkeeper Clarence Walter "Harry" Salter, died in 1925 and she served heroically enduring nature's wrath.

Sparing no expense, the government electrified the station ... two decades after she hired on under the auspices of the old U.S. Lighthouse Service.

In 1939, the lighthouse service merged with the Coast Guard, which finally modernized the light in the 1940s.

The following is a biography from the Coast Guard Historian's Office:

Because of her age, the Civil Service had told Fannie that she could not succeed her husband.  However, she appealed to her senator who took it to the White House, which then overruled the Civil Service. 

She served until August 1947 when she retired at age 65, with 22 years of service as lighthouse keeper, and another 23 years previously assisting her late husband who was keeper at several stations. She stated, "Oh, it was an easy-like chore, but my feet got tired, and climbing the tower has given me fallen arches."

Before the station was electrified, Fannie would fill and light one of the two lamps at dusk, climb the tower and place the lamp within the lens, then recheck it about one hour later, and again at 10 pm before going to bed. From her bedroom in the keeper's quarters she could see if the light was functioning properly and would immediately awake if the light ever went out.

With electricity installed in 1943, she only had to turn on a switch, which lit a 100 watt bulb, which in combination with the lens produced 680 candlepower of light. 

Once she had to manually strike the fog bell when it suddenly failed as a steamer was heading for the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in a fog. She rang the bell four times a minute for 55 minutes until the steamer had safely passed.  In so doing, she was away from the phone when her son-in-law tried to call and tell her that her daughter had given birth to her granddaughter. 

The Lighthouse Board in 1928 authorized $25 per month for a laborer to wind the fog bell striking mechanism for Mrs. Salter during months of the year when fog was prevalent. This fee was reduced to $15 per month in 1932. Upon retirement, she moved to another house six miles away, but she was still within sight of the light. She died at age 83 in 1966.