blue water living--dec 18 2015

Keeping the light station
ship-shape
by Patti Samar
Mike Popelka likes to keep things ship-shape.
As a Coast Guard retiree, Popelka knows a thing or
two about ship life and he’s using his knowledge of all
things nautical as the Port Huron Museum site manager
for the Fort Gratiot Light Station.
“I’m the first one there in the mornings,” he said.
“This time of year, I make sure the heat is turned up
and that everything is cleaned and dusted. I make the
cookies and the hot chocolate, too.”
Cookies and hot chocolate are easy-peasy for Popelka,
who served as a cook in the Coast Guard on both land
and sea. He was shipboard on the USCG Icebreaker
Mackinaw of Cheboygan and, in his final tour of duty,
on the USCG Bramble, which was docked in Port
Huron.
A native of Wisconsin, Popelka spent 20 years in the
Coast Guard. His active duty career took him twice to
Texas, and on the second tour there he met his wife. He
was also stationed in Connecticut, Puerto Rico, Sault
Ste. Marie, Cheboygan and finally Port Huron. He
retired as a First Class Petty Officer.
Popelka noted that he especially enjoyed his time on
the Mackinaw, as it was during the 1970s when the
shipping season went year round, so there was never a
downtime.
Upon his retirement from the Coast Guard, Popelka
worked in security for the Acheson Colloids company
in Port Huron for almost 20 years. It was after his
retirement from Acheson that he first began working
with the Port Huron Museum as site manager for the
USCG Bramble when the museum owned and took care
of that vessel. Upon the sale of the Bramble to a private
owner, Popelka became site manager at the Fort Gratiot
Light Station.
The St. Clair County Parks and Recreation
Department cares for the property at the light station so
Popelka’s duties are administrative and include cleaning
duties and making sure the 50 volunteers are kept
abreast of events and activities scheduled for each day.
The light station is open to the public for tours from
early May through December, with special holiday hours
and nighttime candlelight tours of the lighthouse in
December each year. The buildings on site are available
for rent year round to groups holding special events.
Overnight stays are available on site at the light station,
as well.
“The holiday candlelight tours are an attraction to the
local people,” said Popelka, who noted that many locals
have climbed the lighthouse during the daylight hours,
but are interested in seeing the nighttime view. “Seeing
it at night is a unique opportunity.”
Popelka’s favorite part of his job? “I think meeting the
people who come to see the lighthouse,” he said. “There
are not too many jobs in the world where you work with
the public and it’s fun.”
winter 2015 BlueWaterLiving.net 7