A 1962 graduate of Syracuse University, Wayne Wheeler is a retired Coast Guard officer, having spent 23 years in the Coast Guard in the aids to navigation field serving on ships, district offices and headquarters. He helped write the National Navigation Plan with members of the other Armed Services and was Chief of Aids to Navigation for N. California. In 1984 Wayne founded the U. S. Lighthouse Society. As President and Founder, the name Wayne Wheeler has become synonymous with lighthouse preservation and education. He is one of the pioneers of the lighthouse preservation movement and one of the foremost experts of lighthouse history in the U.S., and everyone fondly refers to him as the "'Head Keep'".
***Pictured are Wayne and his wife Sally at the Thomas Point Shoal transfer ceremony