With heavy heart, we regret to inform you that after a brief illness, Bob Humes passed away at
4:00 AM, Sunday, November 27th.
Bob served as the Overfalls Foundations fourth president as well as vice president and a key member of many important committees. His tenure as president (October 2007 until October 2009) was a critical time for the Foundation and the Lightship Overfalls. As his term began, the ship was still a rust bucket in a muddy hole. While there had been much discussion about repairing the ship and fixing up the grounds, a facility to repair the ship and funding to make it all happen were issues with no answers. Progress on this problem during his tenure included:
Fund raising successes including receipt of large grants and selling of naming opportunities on the ship;
Dredging the slip to get the ship floating;
Locating a shipyard willing and able to repair the ship;
Certifying that the ship was amply seaworthy to be towed to Norfolk to the shipyard;
Arranging for large “in-kind” donations (pro bono towing and sheet steel to replate the hull;
Repairing the ship’s hull;
Negotiating with DNREC to improve the original grounds plan to backfill out to the bulkhead all around the ship; and
Securing ARRA (Stimulus) Funds to build the new slip and improve the grounds.
There was never a more critical time in the history of the Foundation than the period that Bob spent as president. The results of this time far exceeded everybody’s greatest expectations. All of this was done in his manner of giving the credit, taking the blame and maintaining a quiet, pleasant disposition. His contributions and general good humor will be greatly missed. We have lost an outstanding friend and shipmate but his legacy will be with us forever.