UPDATE:
Granddaughter Bernadette Steinhice Gesser talks about her grandfather’s life as a lighthouse keeper.
Bugler plays taps
Coast Guard and Chapter president, Greg Krawczyk, salute a lighthouse hero.
Unfurling the flag
Coast Guard color guard.
Descendants of Thomas Steinhise at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Closeup of the Lighthouse plaque.
Keeper Steinhise’s grave stone with Lighthouse plaque after the ceremony.
On Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Cemetery, on Ritchie Highway in Baltimore, MD 21225, the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society unveiled a special marker at the grave of Thomas Jefferson Steinhise, the last civilian keeper of the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, which now sits on Pier Five at the Inner Harbor. Mr. Steinhise will be the first recipient of this very special recognition in Maryland and is being chosen for this honor for his heroic deeds on the night of August 21, 1933. That night, he and his brother, who was visiting him at the LH but was not a Lighthouse Service employee, rescued six men from the tug, Point Breeze, that sank near the base of the lighthouse. For his actions, he received a Congressional Silver Heroism Award.
Mr. Steinhise’s relatives (most living in the Baltimore and Anne Arundel County areas) will attended the ceremony, including his granddaughters, Sylvia Steinhice Hillman and Bernadette Steinhice Gesser, who were very instrumental in getting the family to help renovate Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse when it was initially moved from its original location at the mouth of the Patapsco River where it meets the Chesapeake Bay, to Pier Five at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
“Yes, there is a difference in the spelling of our grandfather’s last name from our last names. No one really knows why.”, says, Bernadette Steinhice Gesser
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Join us Sunday the 20th of November at 1:00 p.m. for a Lighthouse Keeper recognition ceremony for Keeper Thomas Steinhise. The ceremony will be grave-side, at Holy Cross Cemetery on Rt 2 in Glenn Burnie (6020 Governor Ritchie Hwy). We expect about 25 family members to attend along with some US Coast Guard personnel. All Chapter members are invited. The MC will be Greg, our Chapter president.
We will unveil the U.S.L.H.S. Keeper recognition plaque provided by the Chapter and place a small US flag in its holder. The ceremony will start at 1:00 p.m. and is expected to last about 15-20 minutes. Please plan to arrive a few minute early as parking inside the cemetery is only along the roads through it. Keeper Steinhise’s grave is located along the North fence line, which is to the right as you enter the cemetery. 
Any questions, email our Grave Marker Manager at programs@cheslights.org
