<h3 style="text-align: center;">Friends of Hunting Island honor former lighthouse keeper</h3>
[caption id="attachment_37192" align="alignright" width="355"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_4785.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-37192" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_4785.jpg" alt="" width="355" height="359"></a> Mark and Gary Gaillard, great-grandsons of last Lighthouse Keeper Theodore Gaillard and wife, Estelle Ellen, with Ted Panayotoff[/caption]

The Friends of Hunting Island continued their 25th anniversary celebration with a special ceremony honoring the island’s last lighthouse keeper last week.

On Friday, Aug. 10, the group held a ceremony at the Parish Church of St. Helena Cemetery at St. Luke’s Gate on Newcastle Street in downtown Beaufort, honoring former lighthouse keeper Theodore Gaillard and his wife, Estelle Ellen.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

A U.S. Lighthouse Service grave marker was placed on each of their graves with a benediction by Rev. Todd Simonis, and a bugler from the U.S. Coast Guard played Taps. An honor guard of 20 men and women from the Coast Guard was on hand to honor Keeper Gaillard.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

[caption id="attachment_37197" align="alignright" width="290"]<a href="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_4814.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-37197" src="https://staging.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_4814.jpg" alt="" width="290" height="353"></a> Hunting Island State Park Manager JW Weatherford, FOHI Lighthouse Director Ted Panayotoff, FOHI Vice-President Ted Temple[/caption]

A poster with a photo of Keeper Gaillard and his wife was on display, and Ted Panayotoff of the Friends of Hunting Island gave a summary of Keeper Gaillard’s Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard career.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Two great-grandsons of Keeper Gaillard, Mark and Gary Gaillard, were guests at the ceremony.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>The Hunting Island Lighthouse was deactivated in 1933 and is the only formerly-working lighthouse in South Carolina that is open to visitors.

The celebration continued on Saturday, Aug. 11, on Hunting Island with the Beaufort Harbormasters presenting a concert of maritime and traditional songs to honor and celebrate the history of the historic lighthouse.
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