I received an email three years ago from writer working on a nonfiction picture children’s book “featuring amazing feats by female lighthouse keepers, as well as interesting anecdotes from women in lighthouse families.”

She contacted me after seeing a post here (“Makapuu Lighthouse c.1929 (photo“). In that post, I described an old photo my mother shared with me showing several children, including my mother and her older sister, at the Makapuu Lighthouse.

From that post:

My mother believes this was taken at the Makapuu Lighthouse sometime around 1929. Her uncle (her mother’s half-brother), Alexander Toomey, had been an assistant lighthouse keeper at Makapuu. He was badly burned in an explosion and fire at the lighthouse on April 9, 1925, and died of his injuries.

The author, Kris Coronado, had also found a 1985 interview with Alexander Toomey’s daughter, Julia. The interview by Rick Carroll appeared on the front page of the Honolulu Advertiser in 1985. Coronado wondered if I could put her in touch with anyone in the family who could provide additional info.

Well, one thing led to another, and she was able to reach Julia?s daughter. Using the information gained, Julia Toomey became one of the women whose stories are told in the book.

And the book–Lighthouse Ladies–was published earlier this year and is available from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

And here’s the blurb from the book jacket cover, used as the book description on Amazon.

Ahoy! To man a lighthouse over a century ago in America required guts, courage, and bravery. It was a job tackled by hundreds every day, many of whom . . . were not men! This true tale chronicles the amazing feats of four fascinating women. Each real lighthouse lady featured in this book—whether she’s on a wind-walloped Hawaiian clifftop or an icy channel off the Virginia coast—shows that girl power was around long before it became a popular phrase.