United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
Press Release
March 3, 2020
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary will be having a retirement ceremony for Helen Sintes, on March 5 at 5:30 PM. The ceremony will be held at The Lakeside, 649 Amelia Island Pkwy. Helen is one of the last surviving members of the Lighthouse Families on Amelia Island, she is also a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Please find below additional information about this legendary lighthouse family.
“Helen’s maternal great, great, great grandfather is Amos Latham, a revolutionary war soldier who became the second lighthouse Keeper on Great Cumberland Island. Amos moved with the lighthouse when it was relocated in 1838 and became the first Keeper when in was re-lit in the spring of 1839. George Latham, Amos’s son was Keeper before the Civil War. Amos’s daughter, Jane Maria, was Assistant Keeper from 1869 to 1871.
Helen’s fraternal grandfather, Thomas Patrick O’Hagan, was born in 1859 in Brooklyn NY. He was appointed Temporary Assistant Keeper at Hunting Island SC in 1876 at the age of 17. In 1880, he became 1st Assistant Keeper at Fort Ripley Shoals SC and later served at Sullivan’s Island and Charleston. In 1886, Thomas Patrick married Julia Catharine Schuppe on Sulivan’s Island and a year later was assigned as Principal Keeper at Georgetown Light. While stationed there, their first four children were born, including Helen’s father, Thomas John. In 1893, Thomas Patrick was transferred to Mosquito Inlet (now known as Ponce Inlet) as Principal Keeper where seven more of their children were born.
Helen tells the story of her grandfather hearing of a “good Catholic church and school” in Fernandina and he requested a transfer which was granted in 1905. Helen also relates that when the O’Hagan’s left the Daytona area, the school closed because eleven of the students left for Fernandina. The last of their twelve children was born at Amelia in 1906. Helen’s grandfather served as Principal Keeper until his retirement in 1925 and won numerous awards over his career. Thomas Patrick, and his oldest brother John J., and three of his sons, Thomas John, Joseph E.B., David C. all served in the US Lighthouse Service at the same time!
Helen’s father Thomas John, became Assistant Keeper at Amelia in 1912 and succeeded Thomas Patrick as Keeper in 1925. That same year, Thomas John married Mary Helen Morse thus connecting the O’Hagan family to local harbor pilots and lighthouse keepers in the Morse and Latham families.
Helen’s older brother (Thomas John, Jr) was born in 1931 and Helen in 1934. Helen lived at Amelia for 20 years before attending college in Louisiana where she met Jay (Frank Joseph) on a blind date. They were married in 1955 and their reception was held at the Keystone Hotel on Centre St. Jay and Helen stayed in Louisiana and had six children of their own. Helen & Jay returned to Fernandina in 1998 and soon joined the Flotilla. After the City received the lighthouse from the US Coast Guard, Jay and Helen started cleaning crews and conducted tours.
In 2007, Jay and Helen were awarded the First Commander Award for their work supporting the lighthouse.”
Please join us for this ceremony March 5, 2020 at 5:30 pm at The Lakeside, 649 Amelia Island Pkwy. for additional details please contact:
Kris Bordnick, FSO, PA 904-362-2245