JOE DAISEY HENLOPEN LIGHTHOUSE

JOE DAISEY

CAPE HENLOPEN LIGHTHOUSE ATTENDANT

Salisbury Daily Times, Sunday, September 20, 1970. Dick Cullen, Staff :

Joe Daisey, an everyday man, sits in his front porch rocking chair, watching TV and smoking

a cigaret, recalls vividly the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse which served the the entrance to the

Delaware Bay for more than 165 years. A ray of light for mariners.

At age 86, Mr. Daisey is the only surviving employe of the lighthouse, lives alone in Lewes.

His wife, Clara Ella Edwards Daisey, died of cancer in 1956 as did his daughter. Katherine

Campbell Daisey, in 1968. Katherine was the last child to be born in the famed lighthouse.

Joe Daisey is diabetic, blind in one eye and hard of hearing, but does not let these minor

shortcomings interfere with his daily routine. He says he cant do today what his used to be

able to do, but he makes out. He doesn’t tell sea stories, just the facts, and prides himself

in telling the truth. His stories are long, factual and riddled with turn of the century jargon.

The story of his departure from the civil service job follows. His tenure at the lighthouse

began December 24^th, 1911 and ended December 26, 1919 ended with a 'stormy'

confrontation with the lighthouse keeper about keep duty for Christmans. Yes we had a

bloody fight , he punching me in the short ribs and me punching him in the face. I almost

knocked him down the spiral steps but grabbed him in time and pulled him aside.

I left my post, drew my resignation and mailed it. A Short time later I got a letter from the

Coast Guard which informed me I had been temporarily suspended. I wrote back that I had

quit and that as that.

Mr. Daisey disputes the story that the lighthouse fell during a nor' easter, April 13 1926.

He tells that he and his wife were at the beach fishing, on a sunny day, water calm, hear a

thunderous roar and looked toward that direction to find the lighthouse slipping down the

sand dune into the sea.

Joe Daisey explained that Lewes residents were not too disturbed at the lighthouse fate as

it had been abandoned by the Coast guard in 1924 as safety reasons and that it was just a

matter of time until it;s fall.

Joseph Martin Daisey was born in Box Iron, Maryland, near Snow Hill, 14 January 1885

and died in Lewes 1 February 1972. He had been a waterman most of his life.

His wife was Clara Ella Edwards and they had a daughter born 1913 , Katherine , who died

at age 55.