Light Hearted 272 – Gene Davis, director of Coast Guard Museum Northwest

Light Hearted

Gene Davis with a fourth-order Fresnel lens from New Dungeness Lighthouse, Washington. The Coast Guard Museum Northwest, located on an active Coast Guard base on the waterfront in Seattle, Washington, opened in 1976. The museum serves as a showcase for some of the Coast Guard’s most important stories, lessons, and accomplishments, and the museum’s extensive archives are available to researchers. Inside the Coast Guard Museum Northwest. The guest in this episode, Gene Davis, was the planning officer for the Coast Guard district and helped launch the museum in 1976. Gene had also been instrumental in setting up Base Seattle when the Coast Guard took over the site from the Army. After retiring as a captain from the Coast Guard in 1978, he went to work at the museum. For the past 45 years, he has given tours and done research for countless numbers of people. In 2012, Gene Davis was awarded the Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award for his many years of dedication. Chad Kaiser, general manager of New Dungeness Light Station and a certified lampist, takes part in this interview.