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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DEcEMbER 10, 2018
Cutter: New cutters will be stationed at Tongue Point
continued from Page A1
Built to last 30 years, the
Steadfast underwent major
repairs in 1992 and was sta-
tioned in Astoria in 1994.
Work on hulls and mechan-
ical issues was completed in
2010 in an effort to extend
its usability another 15
years.
“Imagine a vessel which
is both an antique and a fully
capable operational asset out
there protecting our nation
and serving our community,”
said Astoria City Councilor
Bruce Jones, a former com-
mander of Coast Guard Sec-
tor Columbia River and the
incoming mayor.
“We’re proud of their
many
accomplishments,
your ongoing accomplish-
ments, not least of which
is the logistical miracle of
keeping this 50-year-old
vessel an effective opera-
tional platform on the high
seas,” he said.
As cutters like the Stead-
fast continue to age, though,
the Coast Guard has pro-
moted efforts to replace
much of its fleet.
“Here we are again on
the brink of another transi-
tion with bigger, faster, more
technologically advanced
Coast Guard ships com-
ing online,” said Cmdr.
Alain Balmaceda, the cut-
ter’s commanding officer.
“One thing is glaringly obvi-
ous about the Coast Guard
medium-endurance cutters:
they’re old. They’re really
old.”
The Steadfast, based at
the city’s 17th Street Dock,
is set to be replaced by a new
class of cutters in the 2020s,
but a decommissioning date
has not been set.
Two 154-foot Senti-
nel-class cutters are sched-
uled to arrive in Astoria
in the first half of the next
decade, and will be stationed
at Tongue Point.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Trevor Lilburn
Pictures and an officer sword surround a cake marking the 50th anniversary of the Steadfast.
Couple: ‘I will stay with
him. No matter what’
continued from Page A1
irritating.” The roommate wasn’t
very interested in Tom at first but
then one day she flopped on their
couch and declared to Judy, “I
think I’m falling in love.”
And Judy thought, “Oh, crap.
You can’t be falling in love.”
She reasoned with herself: She
loved Tom, but she still wasn’t
ready to get married. She wasn’t
going to get in the way of this new
romance.
So Tom married Joy. They
moved around Washington state.
They had some kids.
“And I stayed in Raymond and
we all lived happily every after,”
Judy said.
Judy also married and raised
children. She and Joy kept in
touch, but Tom ignored Judy
whenever they ran into each other.
He still loved her, but he also loved
his wife, completely. And Judy
loved her husband. She had adven-
tures. She traveled the world:
Egypt, Israel, Italy, the British
Isles, China. There was no pining,
no “what might have beens.” They
had their own lives.
Now this is important, Judy
says, shifting on the couch. She
wants this to be clear: “There is
such a thing as a perfect memory
and a perfect love and you can love
somebody for years and it can stay
perfect and you never act on it. For
all those years, Tom was one of my
happiest memories.”
In 2006, Tom’s wife died after
a long illness. Judy reconnected
with Tom at the funeral. They kept
in touch over the next few years.
It was a hard time for Judy. Her
husband, a capable, communi-
ty-minded man, was being swal-
lowed up by Alzheimer’s. Judy still
has difficulty talking about it. She
had to make hard decisions and
figure out the best way to care for
someone she loved as he became
a stranger. Then she had to let go
when he died.
In 2009, Tom took Judy back to
the Astoria Column. The weather
was stormy, with wind gusts so
strong you could hardly get the
Column door open. Up at the top,
Tom proposed again. But this time
there was no “P.S.,” no “take your
time.”
“Quick, answer,” he said. “I’ve
got to get out of here.”
They married in 2010 and set-
tled in Hammond. They don’t
regret the wait, or the time they
didn’t spend together — “Life is
perfect,” says Tom.
It is still perfect now even as a
slow-growing tumor spreads a sort
of gray haze over one side of Tom’s
brain. He is preparing to undergo
a second surgery. Judy suffered a
heart attack recently but she has
made a fierce promise to herself.
“I will stay with him,” she says.
A preview of the new under-construction homepage.
Website: We welcome your feedback
continued from Page A1
have been a constant frustration
for both our readers and our staff
for a long time now. We think
you will be very pleased with the
difference.
The websites will also look
very different. It’s a fresher,
cleaner viewing platform for
news. All the content is cus-
tomized for optimal display on
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as desktop computers. And the
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On the back end, our reporters
and editors will have more tools
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more quickly and present it in
new ways. Reporters, for exam-
ple, will be able to post breaking
stories, photos and video from
their smartphones directly online
when the occasion demands.
There are usually some
glitches when media compa-
nies transfer their websites to
new hosts, and this move is no
different.
The most noticeable will be
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ferent addresses. We’ve imported
archives going back over a
decade. There’s a robust search
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What won’t change is our
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where, both online and in print.
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