The Daily Alaska empire., 1938-06-29
CAPE SPENCER LIGHT KEEPER
 "COlNC BACK"
Ted Menzony to Leave Wife Today for Another
 Two Years

1OmOffOW Tea MellHOuy w II bid his wife goodbye and leave Ju- neau for lonely and storm battered Cape Spencer light station, where he is one of three keepers who each stay there for two years between their eight-month leaves.
 Menzony and his wife are at the Gastineau Hotel at the bitter end of the too-short leave. They have been Outside during the bulk of the leave, and Mrs Menzony came as far as Juneau to see Alaska for the first time and see as much of her husband as she could before he returned to duty.
 But a light keepers job is not so distasteful to Menzony as one might believe, and yet when one hears a description of Cape Spencer light. he wonders at the fortitude it must demand of the men who call it's fou" or five acres of rock home.
 Plenty to Do
 What do we do to relieve the monotony?" Menzony asked. There isn't any. We don't have time to worry about it. There is always plenty of work to do, painting and repairing, and keeping the station going
 Mail comes twice a month to Cape Spencer light-if the weather IS right. and is put ashore in cabin on the mainland, a mile from the light. The radio, to Men2ony, is "a burden more than anything else, ' for every day. Cape Spencer must send it's weather reports to a long list of stations, and as far as news broadcasts go, one of the crew is always sleeping at the time when brcadcasts are on the air.
 With a half acre of grass on the rock. the lighthouse keepers have a small garden where they raise carrots, strawberries and other ber- ries and vegetables. The only ani- maj on the island is dog.
 At Sound Entrance
 Cape Spencer light lies at the north side of Cross Sound entrance, and steamers pass from one to four miles cut. Few boats go into the Cape itself
 Each man works an eight-hour shift, changing once month, the man on day shift cooking two meals a day. Sometimes, in the fall of the year, just before freezeup, ore man at time can get away from the rock for day to hunt or fish on islands nearby, but never for longer than a day.
 The winter storms have been seen to throw water clear across the barren rock, but Menzony says it isn't so bad"
 No real water goes over the rock" he said. "We get a lot oi spray, but there is no danger of the house and light being washed away. We lose the dock and boat house once in awhile, but that's all.
 Menzony explained his life as a lighthouse keeper, which had it's origin three years ago.
 I'd been to sea all my life, and I thought I'd better get ashore someplace where I could see it with out being out on it."
 Lighthouse keeper Menzony is 38 years old. He went to sea when he was IA.
 ? Years of Service
 Tomorrow Menzony will leave Juneau on the Nuisance for Hoonah and head for Cape Spen e light and two years of unbroken service before his next leave, or until he gets the transfer to a fam- fly light for which he has applied which will enable him to have his wife with him.
 "They don't allow women on those outlying lights" he said.
 And so for the next two years 1e5 Menzony and his wife will be parted while Ted plays significant part in the scheme of things that puts some men to difficult tasks that others may benefit.
 The tourist will see from the decks of a gay ship, nothing but re- volving finger of light, 2OO,0Oo candle power strong, cutting the blackness of a Gulf night, warming of dangerous reefs, while beneath that light there is apt to be Ted Menzony, or one of the other two men there, reading a letter from a wife far away who he will not see for months on end.
 ~N