Unbuilding the Grace and Pearman Bridges


For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.

And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older
The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated
Of dead and living. Not the intense moment
Isolated, with no before and after,
But a lifetime burning in every moment
And not the lifetime of one man only
But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

January 23, 2006: Bob McCabe - a man in continuous motion

It took me a long time to put together a story about Bob McCabe - Mostly because Bob never stands still very long - always concerned about this or that. So the best way to portray Bob with is with this photo - everything stationary except Bob - who is always a blur

Always checking on somehting

Here, Chris Vocci is doing his crane thing while Bob is not quite satisfied with where the girder is going - so he gives a little encouragement. Like Neil, Paul and Pio - always a hands on guy.

If there is no problem - Bob is chasing it anyway.

More hands on - well - off in this case - because he is pleased!

Ocassionally, Jackie smiles at Bob and suddenly, all the problems disappear

This is an inside joke. Ted runs the concrete cutter, and speaks Michigan English. Ted has little experience with multicultural groups and is unfamiliar with Boston English so the Boston guys think his name is Tad. To remind them that he really is Ted required a little sign on the shoulder

This is Bob McCabe and his team - serious, thoughtful and always smiling with a positive can-do view of everything.

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C. Frank Starmer

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