Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2015 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Calumet (Mich) News Saturday, 23 November 1912 CAPTAIN OCHA IS DEAD CAPTAIN ALBERT OCHA of the Eagle Harbor Life Saving Station died last night of enlargement of the liver. He was well known through- out the district. Until about ten years ago he was head of the Life Saving Station at the canal. He had charge of the station from the time the canal was built until CAPTAIN McCORMACK took his place. CAPTAIN OCHA was then transferred to the Two Hearts Station. He was there until about two months ago, when he was given command of the new Eagle Harbor Station. Six children of his second wife, the oldest of whom is but 10 years of age, and two by his first wife survive CAPTAIN OCHA. MONTE R. OCHA is assistant of the Grand Marais Life Saving Station and, one of the two oldest children, arrived at his bedside of his father yesterday. The other, ARTHUR OCHA, is on the steamer R. Davidson and is expected at Eagle Harbor tomorrow. The funeral will probably take place tomorrow. CAPTAIN OCHA was a Mason and the Keweenaw Lodge of Masons will be in charge of the last rites. Internment will be in the Eagle Harbor Odd Fellows Cemetery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston Evening Transcript Wednesday, 11 December 1912 [Albert Henry Ocha] WELL DESERVING PENSIONS ----------------------- [From the "Topics of the Times," in the New York Times] Absurdly, and even outrageously, generous as this country has been in granting pensions, giving them to thousands and thousands of people whose claim to public support or assistance is no more than an excuse which it would be wild exaggeration to call colorable, no provision is yet made for one class of the Nation's ser- vants who are constantly risking and often losing health and life itself in the performance of their daily duties. These are the members of the Life Saving Corps. From them heroic self-sacrifice is expected as a matter of course, and the expectation is never disappointed. Yet when old age - which for them comes early - makes a continuance of their wild work impossible, they are dismissed to live on such savings as their scanty pay has enabled them to accumulate, and no provision whatever is made for their dependents. Deserved attention is called by the Detroit papers to a case which illustrates both what should be done and what is not done for these men. CAPTAIN ALBERT OCHA, who has been in charge of the station at Eagle Harbor, Keewenaw Point, Lake Superior, since last September, has just died at the age of forty-nine, leaving behind him seven motherless children, the oldest a girl of fourteen. He had been in the Life Saving Service on the Great Lakes for twenty-nine years and was a man with a magnificent record for courage and efficiency. Work done by him away back in 1887, when he took part in rescuing, during a November storm, the crew of the steamer Robert Wallace, is still well remembered in lake shipping circles. Another phase of his character was shown in the February of 1910, when he was stationed at Two Heart River. His wife fell dangerously ill, and he went thirty miles to Grand Marais for a doctor, only to find that none would face the hardship of the return journey through snow so deep that no dog teams could traverse it. The captain went back alone, found his wife dead, made a coffin for her, and buried her in a huge snowdrift, to remain till spring rendered permanent sepulture possible. Since then he has been father, mother, and teacher for his children, refusing to have them separated from himself or each other. The Townsend bill, providing a retirement allowance for life savers and a pension for their families, came before Congress at its last session, but still awaits action. Continued failure to pass some such measure would seem to be a national disgrace. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================