Elderly couple’s lighthouse is dark no more thanks to Graham firefighters
Sometimes, it takes a community to change a light bulb.
For 18 years, a 25-foot-tall lighthouse has sat on the Graham property of Arnie and Velta Andrews. For the last few years it’s been dark. Its burned-out light bulb was too difficult for the elderly couple to replace.
Arnie, 87, built the lighthouse in 2002 while he was recovering from a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. He needed a project that would exercise his limbs.
The retired Foss Maritime tugboat captain spent a 41-year-long career on the water. Lighthouses were something he depended on during his time on the water.
The Andrews’ lighthouse doesn’t aid any ships, but it’s been a source of inspiration for the couple and their neighbors, Velta, 84, said.
“I was always able to find my way with a lighthouse when I was on the tugs,” Arnold told The News Tribune in 2002. “I figured I could always find my way home if I put a lighthouse here.”
The lighthouse also serves as a pump house for the well on the couple’s 2-acre property.
Arnie had more medical setbacks in recent years. Going up a ladder to change the light bulb is no longer a possibility, Velta said.
On July 15, a medical alert was accidentally triggered at the couple’s home, bringing a crew from Graham Fire and Rescue, said one of the responders, Lt. Andy Faubion.
“We pulled up, and Arnie and Velta are sitting there (outside), and they had had a very confused look on their faces,” Faubion said.
After Faubion and fellow firefighters Giani Bigelow and Tyler Schaff established there was no medical emergency, conversation turned to the unusually large yard art.
After recounting his time on the water and the building of the lighthouse, the couple mentioned its light hadn’t shined for the last few years.
“I’m looking at Arnie and Velta and thinking, you know, it’s gonna be impossible to change the light bulb when you’re that age,” Faubion said.
Using a ladder from the firetruck, Bigelow climbed inside the structure and reached the light bulb.
“That’s something that we don’t get the opportunity to do on a daily basis,” Faubion said. “If we’re able to do it quick enough and it wouldn’t hurt anybody, I didn’t feel like we were wasting the taxpayers’ time.”
It also was a way to honor a former firefighter. Arnie was part of Graham’s volunteer firefighting crew in the 1960s, Velta said.
That night, the captain and his wife waited for the sun to go down.
“Finally, about 10 to nine, the light started sparkling,” Velta said. Arnie was ecstatic, she said.
“This was a real shot in the arm for him,” Velta said.
Graham’s guiding light shines again.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 10:34 AM.
