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.

November 1, 2005:
Working as the sun says goodbye

Sometimes the folks, the weather, the light, reflections and mood create a time for just absorbing some of what is going on around us. Late this afternoon was just one of those times. Here is a story of work as the sun says goodbye. Mostly without words.

Michael - taking a break and giving his hammer a lube job

David (left) and Bryan (right) are some of the unsung heros of this afternoon. The manage the water that keeps the dust down.

The 7550

and Chris

Skeletons bathed in low light

Michael's wife, Tina, was the first to email me. Their son, Joshua (I think) figured out I gave his dad's name to Jack Foley. Since this long distance introduction, I've watched Mike and Jack and learned much from both of them.

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C. Frank Starmer

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