Exclusive Last Photos

She was the lighthouse keeper’s wife more than half a century ago. Now aged 103, Connie Small thought she might never glimpse her old home from the sea again. But then along came Tug Alley Too. (Update included: Connies Small died in January 2005)

UPDATE: Connie Small Dies Peacefully at 103

Tugboats aren’t just for pushing big ships around. They also provide a steady base for a delicate mission. When tugboat owner Bob Hassold offered Connie Small the chance to see her lighthouse home again, she grabbed the opportunity.

"The morning was perfect," Hassold said when he showed us the photos he had taken. "The day was misty, not hot and the seas were calm."

Wife of the former keeper at Portsmouth Harbor Light, Connie Small with her nurses from the Wentworth Nursing Home and friends traveled aboard Tug Alley Too to the mouth of the Piscataqua. Capt. Hassold, who offers tugboat tours of the harbor, edged close to Small’s former home, the keeper’s cottage by the lighthouse in New Castle.

Connie and her husband Elson Small were the last keepers of the light starting in 1946. She has recorded her memories in a popular book entitled "The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife. The lighthouse was taken over by the Coast Guard two years later and today automated in 1960. Today it is managed by the active Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Light. Small, who has lectured about her experience over 600 times, was recently named "guiding light" by the lighthouse group.

VISIT: Tugboat Alley web site
SEE: More about Connie Small by Jeremy D’Entremont
BUY THE BOOK: From Amazon.com

Photos of Connie Small by Bob Hassold. Photo of Tug Alley Too from the tall ship Friendship by Leonard Sagren. 

CONNIE SMALL DIES AT 103 (continued)