art and indian river lagoon | Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch

"Looking south towards Thumb Point." USCG Station, Ft Pierce, ca 1940s/50s (Photos courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow) — “Looking south towards Thumb Point.” USCG Station, Ft Pierce, Florida, ca. 1940s/50s (Photos courtesy of Tim Dring via Sandra Henderson Thurlow)

“READY, RESPONSIVE, AND RESOLUTE” —U.S.C.G

Today, I am going to feature “two in one.” –historic photos of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Ft Pierce, and ORCA, the Ocean Research and Conservation Association. The now historic U.S.C.G. station building has resided along the Indian River Lagoon since the late 1930s, and today ORCA is housed at the same location.

Thank you to my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow, and Tim Dring, President of the U. S. Life-Saving Service Heritage Association who discovered these photos in the National Archives and recently shared them with my mother.

Last week, my husband Ed and I, as well as my parents, attended the ORCA grand opening at the Elliott Museum on Hutchinson Island, just over the bridge from Sewall’s Point.(http://www.elliottmuseum.org)
That evening, Dr Edie Widder, famous scientist and gifted communicator, was greeted by a full house. If you have not seen the exhibit, “Illuminating the Deep,” you must! It features her science fiction like deep-sea creature photographs, enhanced by fellow scientist Dr Bernstein, as well as write ups about these creatures that will truly blow your mind. The bioluminescent world under sea we do not know….The exhibit also relates the importance of the Indian River Lagoon’s health and its connection to ocean health.

Illuminating the Deep at the Elliott Museum. (JTL) — “Illuminating the Deep” at the Elliott Museum. (JTL)

Dr Edie Wider and JTL (Photo Ed Lippisch) — Dr Edie Widder and JTL (Photo Ed Lippisch)

From exhibit. Our toxic soup run off killing the IRL and our oceans.

The USCG location of ORCA as viewed on their website. — The USCG Ft Pierce, Fl. The location of ORCA as viewed on their website.

It was a great evening. Ed and I had a great time at the exhibit. I was completely inspired as usual when I heard Dr Widder speak. Really amazing. That night, I thought a lot about how incredible it is that ORCA resides right here along the Treasure Coast in Ft Pierce! I even dreamt about squids.

My photo with a rendition of the Giant Squid of which Dr Wider so famously made famous! (Photo Ed Lippisch) — My photo on the floor of the Elliott with a rendition of the Giant Squid eating me. You may know that Dr Widder so famously made the giant famous!

So I wake up and go to my computer, the general format of my life these days…..And what do I see? Multiple emails from my mother. Her message read:

“Jacqui, Ironically, I am working on Coast Guard images of the ORCA facility. Maybe they will be of interest.”—-Mom

So here are the wonderful photographs my mother shared from the early days. They are priceless. I believe most are from the 1930s and 40s. Life is one big circle indeed! And here we are today—-

—-ORCA and the U.S. Coast Guard at Ft Pierce, both “ready, responsive, and resolute” for our Indian River Lagoon!