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.

September 21 and 29, 2005: Sharon Stallings

Sharon is one of the unseen and unsung heros of the unbuilding project. Sharon drives one of the crew boats - ferrying people and supplies to wherever they are needed. I first met Sharon in August when I followed Ken Canty as he numbered the bridge support columns. Here is Sharon a month later.

and another view

Sparky found Sharon also running one of her ferry operations - going

and returning

November 30, 2005: Sharon's fetch and tote service (with a smile)

Going out to Drum Island to watch Mickey's team load D-25

and coming home

December 6, 2005:

Here is Sharon again - always with a smile and always with a pleasant something to say. Today was the blast of the Grace section over Town Creek

Sharon's Taxi service

January 25, 2006:

Sharon's Taxi service with a smile -

January 26, 2006:

Sharon doing fetch and tote for Phillip

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C. Frank Starmer

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