Light Hearted Lite #9 – Maine lighthouse keeper Ernie DeRaps

Light Hearted

Ernie DeRaps, a native Mainer, spent several years in the 1950s and ‘60s as a Coast Guard lighthouse keeper at four Maine lighthouses – Monhegan, Fort Point, Heron Neck, and Browns Head. A book written by Ernie and his wife Pauline was published by Foghorn publishing in 2006. Ernie’s half of the book was called Lighthouse Keeping. If you turn the book over and upside down, the other half of the book, by Pauline, or Polly, Fitzgerald DeRaps, was called Light Housekeeping.

“Light Hearted” host Jeremy D’Entremont, Ernie DeRaps, and American Lighthouse Foundation Executive Director Bob Trapani Jr. in February 2019.

Ernie took up painting at the age of 80 and completed portraits of all of Maine’s lighthouses. He and Pauline were married for 64 years and had six children. Pauline passed away in 2015 and Ernie followed her last year, at the age of 95.

Ernie DeRaps at Monhegan Lighthouse in 2007. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

This is an edited version of an interview that was recorded in February 2019. Also taking part in the discussion is Bob Trapani, Jr., executive director of the American Lighthouse Foundation.