Remembering Historian and Lighthouse Author, Jim Gibbs

Jim Gibbs books were and continue to be a mainstay in my lighthouse library--a personal collection of mine that boasts about 200 books. About six of those times were authored by Jim.

I turned to Jim's work early on in my career for information on West Coast lighthouses. I also loved his memories of lighthouse keeping in the 1950s at Tillamook Rock Lighthouse off the Oregon coast. 

I began visiting Jim regularly after moving to Washington in 2002. In all, I probably visited his home in Yachats, Oregon about a half-dozen times. He met my husband and my daughter on separate visits, and I met his daughter, Debbie. I also paid my respects to his late wife, Cherie, whose ashes were in a small flowerbed in Jim's yard. I feel fortunate to have spent time with Jim. He shared so much with me, including several boxes of his lighthouse research.

Jim passed away quietly on April 10, 2010 at the age of 88 in his home, Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse. He wrote more than a dozen books about lighthouses and maritime history of the West Coast. For many years, he was editor of Marine Digest, based in Seattle. He was among five men who founded the Puget Sound Maritime Society. His old vacation cottage in Hansville, Washington, was the Skunk Bay Lighthouse. Both Skunk Bay Lighthouse and Cleft of the Rock Lighthouse were amalgamated sentinels Jim had built using parts and pieces of other lighthouses that had been decommissioned.

Below is an article I wrote for Lighthouse Digest in 2006 about one of my visits with Jim. The photos were taken by my daughter, Jessica. Click on the images to enlarge them for easier reading.