Judy Rath is a landlubber who harbors a life-long fascination for lighthouses
by Marty Harris

Judy Rath has deep roots in the area. She grew up in Kirkwood, now lives in Crestwood and works at her family's Webster Groves' printing company. But since childhood lighthouses have beckoned her to the shore.

She has heeded the call travelling the United States and the world in search of the "icons of our maritime history." Rath estimates that she's visited 125 lighthouses.

"I saw my first lighthouse when I was 6 weeks old," said Rath, who works as bookkeeper/typesetter at her family's business, Acme Printers Lithographers Inc. in Webster Groves.

That first beacon, located in Grand Haven, Mich., where her family spent summer vacations for many years, remains Rath's favorite.

"I remember climbing the tower the first time when I was 16 or 17," Rath said. By the end of high school Rath had started taking pictures of the lighthouse.

Over the years, her interest in lighthouses has grown.

"It's something I enjoy and gives me some place to visit when I travel and destinations I hadn't thought about," Rath said.

"I like to see the lighthouses and some of the history is really interesting. That's what first got me more involved. Now the architecture appeals to me," Rath said.

The lighthouse architecture is more than the stereotypical tall tower with a beacon on top. Some have short towers on tall cliffs, others are called "screwpile," (screws into shoals in the water), plus the caisson lighthouse and skeleton towers.

A recent trip to the East Coast took her on a marathon tour to 28 lighthouses in five days.

On her journeys to places like Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Gibraltar and Australia, Rath takes photographs and collects lighthouse memorabilia -- from pins to detailed lighthouse replicas.

Her photographs capture the picturesque beacons in their various surroundings -- atop a grassy knoll in Australia or at the end of a pier with waves lapping at a nearby beach, or the reflection of a hexagonal beacon in a glassy bay.

Rath said she rarely tires of seeing these icons.

"I only get tired if I see too many in too many days," she said.

She also comes home with tales of the sea, such as the one about Ida Lewis.

"She was a lighthouse keeper in Rhode Island," Rath said. "As a young woman, she went out into the ocean and saved sailors from a sinking ship. She became the lighthouse keeper when her father died and she never married."

As a lighthouse enthusiast, Rath belongs to both collector groups and preservation groups.

"Some lighthouses are very endangered and need a lot of repair work," Rath said.

The lighthouse in St. Helena, Mich., had been abandoned and was in need of restoration.

"The Boy Scouts took it over as a project," Rath said. "When almost finished, 18 Boy Scouts had earned their Eagle Scout badges by doing different projects on the lighthouse."

Rath belongs to the Hoosier Lighthousing Club in Indiana. That club adopted the Old Lighthouse Museum in Michigan City, Ind.

"We spend two weekends a year there volunteering -- planting bulbs, doing repair work, painting fences," she said.

The website collector group, lighthousekeepers.com, raises funds which go to lighthouse preservation by selling badges, pins and lanyards. One year, the group raised $1,200 for a lighthouse; last year it raised $2,200 for another lighthouse, Rath said.

"We don't just look at lighthouses, we try to preserve them," she noted.

Rath also readily shares her collection of photographs and memorabilia with others.

At the request of groups or organizations, Rath will pack up some of her lighthouse replicas and photographs and make a presentation.

"I just like to share my lighthouses with everybody," she said.

This spring Rath printed a line of gift cards and notecards which feature her lighthouse photographs, called Sunshine Lights. Through her card line, Rath hopes to share her joy of lighthouses and to raise awareness of preservation efforts of many cities and historical groups.

"I used to make homemade cards for all kinds of occasions," Rath said. The cover of the card featured one of her lighthouse photographs.

"People wanted copies of the cards and I wanted to share my lighthouse pictures and memories so I thought I'd print some and see how they sell," Rath said.

Her cards are available at Acme Printers at 36 W. Lockwood in Webster Groves, or by contacting Rath at 962-4971 or via e-mail at: judy@sunshineslights.com.

*Republished by permission of the Webster-Kirkwood Times.