MAILBAG - March 29, 2007

Memories of the

Reuben E. Lee

I recently read the commentary, “Saying goodbye to ‘the boat’ ” (Community Commentary, March 18) and was sad to learn of the upcoming fate of the Reuben E. Lee. Although I do not know Teresa Minke, I enjoyed her article, which stirred up memories of my own. I, too, was employed by Far West Services and worked on the boat. I was part of a lesser-known work crew assigned to do various maintenance jobs, from fixing tables and chairs to changing the light bulbs on the marquee on Pacific Coast Highway. The main purpose of this work crew was, however, to paint the boat.

During my last year of high school, I, along with a group of my high school buddies, were asked if we wanted part-time jobs painting the Reuben E. Lee. The mother of one of my buddies, Bill Chadwick, worked on the boat — I believe in the accounting department. She arranged with the manager, Ken St. Shear, for her son and a group of his pals to work part-time on a makeshift maintenance crew on the boat.

The job was great. Flexible hours, pretty good pay for a teenager and a free meal for every four hours we worked. This motley crew of pseudo-handymen was led by a one-time driver of the monorail at Disneyland, Randy Poag. Randy was probably in his early- to mid-20s and was assigned the responsibility of making sure we did our jobs.

Anyway, we painted that boat from top to bottom, inside and out. I still remember what seemed to be an endless job of painting three coats on all the “curly q’s” on all the posts that encircled the second deck. We pulled all-night shifts to paint the inside of the restaurant in hopes it would dry before the next days’ lunch crowd arrived. We even painted the bar with the temptation of an operating beer tap and only Randy to watch our every move. We applied gold leaf to the sign on the top-deck wheelhouse. We painted the black tips of both smoke stacks. All in all, we probably touched almost every square inch of that boat.

The Reuben E. Lee was the first place I experienced the wonder of something called a “radar range.” During one of my first breaks I was told to grab a milk and a couple of rolls and butter. I remember the rolls were frozen solid and thought to myself what do they expect me to do with these? I was told to put them in a metal box in the kitchen, set the box for 10 seconds and press the “on” button. To my amazement in that short amount of time we had steaming hot rolls. I had never seen such a thing.

Oh yeah, another thing the article mentioned was “the hold,” or storage area, that was always flooded. The hold held dozens of 50-gallon metal drums that were filled with seawater to act as ballast to raise the back end of the boat so the stern wheel could turn without propelling the boat. As years passed, the saltwater in these drums ate away at the metal and one by one they began to leak. It was our job to either vacuum or mop up these leaks and to apply an anti-rust paint on the metal floor on a regular basis.

Speaking of the stern wheel, I also remember the day Randy set a full bucket of paint and a new brush on the wheel only to have the wheel turn when he wasn’t looking, dumping the paint and his new brush into the bay.

It’s sad to think that this landmark that has brought so much enjoyment and so many memories to so many people is going to be gone forever. It will be very difficult to drive over the bridge and not see her there.

KENT M. PAUL

Costa Mesa

Columnist calls

the right shots

I appreciated Steve Smith’s column on how Mayor Allan Mansoor is revealing himself (“Political flub, leadership flaw,” March 14). Also, I appreciate his attention to both city councils on a regular basis.

DENNIS SHORT

Newport Beach