Facing the Sea: Lightkeepers and Their Families
Harold Chubbs was born in Carbonear, Conception Bay, Newfoundland, in 1938. He attended St. James High School in Carbonear, and then undertook a five-year apprenticeship program working at the E. F. Barnes Machine Shop on Water Street, St. John's. Graduating with a machinist certificate in 1960, he went on to become a marine engineer. In 1965, he began his thirty-year career with the Canadian Coast Guard in St. John's. He worked first as a technician for the division of Marine Aids to Navigation, servicing equipment on light stations around the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was during this time that he began to keep a record of the fascinating oral history of the lightkeepers and their families. In 1978, he became a supervisor of maintenance on light stations and marine navigation systems, solar power, hydro power, generator power systems at Decca, loran C sites, and marine radio stations throughout the province. In 1990, he became project officer-in-charge of automation of the first twenty-four light stations with remote mentoring to a central location. Harold retired from the Coast Guard in 1995. Previously Harold has written copy to accompany the lighthouse paintings of Leslie H. Noseworthy in the publicationLet There be Light: Paintings and Drawings by Leslie H. Noseworthy.Having grown up on the banks of Manuels River in Conception Bay, Wade Kearley moved to British Columbia in 1980 to study fine arts and journalism at the University of Victoria. He graduated with honours in 1983 and moved back to Newfoundland and Labrador. During his thirty years as a commercial writer, editor, author, and journalist, Wade Kearley has written extensively about the oceans, publishing articles in national and international journals and magazines. He has six books to his credit, including three other works of non-fiction: the provincial bestsellerThe People's Road: On the Trail of the Newfoundland Railway, the updatedThe People's Road Revisited, and the recently acclaimed bookHere's the Catch: The Fish We Harvest from the Northwest Atlantic. InSentinels of the Strait, which featured sketches of legendary lighthouses of Belle Isle, Wade's text accompanies the artwork of Leslie H. Noseworthy. Wade has also published two books of poetry:Drawing On WaterandLet Me Burn Like This: Prayers from the Ashes.