Author unknown.

Peg Sanford speech from 2006: I'd like to introduce to you the Francis Lifeboat crew: Thomas R. Lyons, Alan J Lyon, Dean Batchelor and David W. Mauger. Many years ago the Van Dis family donated the rusted hulk of the Francis lifeboat to the SDHS. This final Francis Lifeboat crew took the dreams of Bob Johnson and Bob Simonds and made that dream come true. With the encouragement of Dick Lyons who always believed it could be done - the team spent over a 1000 hours working on the restoration. Their research included a trip to Put-in-Bay, Ohio to see the only other known restored Francis Lifeboat. Now the research trip sounded like a lot of fun for them, but we all know the hours that were spent measuring, cutting, chipping, scraping, sanding, priming and painting did nothing to add to their beauty! They cleaned up nicely though. With the assistance of RJ Peterson who supplied the crew with a workspace and sand blasting and with the advice from Dave Anderson (boat builder) they brought the boat back from a rusty wreck to a valuable artifact. We hope you will be able to attend the first public showing of the restored life boat at the museum opening on Saturday, May 27.