Wayne Mathews

Lighthouse Guardians Wayne Mathews

My story, Lighthouse Guardians, is fictional, of course. I chose Bandon as the site for this tale for one minor and one major reason. The minor reason; I've been to Bandon on more than one occasion and I like the town and surrounding area. The major reason I chose Bandon for the character location is because its lighthouse is not the host of any ghostly legends that I was able to track down. This way, maybe I haven't irritated any of the specters of which may dwell there. I have tried to be realistic on most of the businesses, locations and just a few of the characters listed. Dan, the friend I mentioned who was with Tanner and his dad on the Newport jetty when the killer waves struck, is actually my brother-in-law. He was there, as was my dad, and I lived through that experience; two people didn't. Jetties, rivers, lakes, mountains, etcera, of which I wrote about, do exist, and I've been to them all, and have caught fish from most. Jennifer Mathews is my wife of nineteen years as this goes to print. She is a nurse at Mountain View Hospital in Madras, and we have three fine sons, (no daughters). Ben, Nick and Caleb have all fished with me on the lower Deschutes River many times as well as various other locations. There are rattlesnakes in that gorge, and California Bighorn Sheep; I've seen both, and have captured the bighorns on film. I have not fell from a cliff there, but have on Quartz Creek near the old mining town of Quartzville in the Oregon Cascade Mountains. God placed a sapling alder in my right hand from behind me, both as easily and naturally as I would grasp a fork from the kitchen drawer. I have thanked him many times, because the landing would have been rough, and nobody knew where I was. Other than these characters I have just named and the construction contractor of the Point Gregory Lighthouse, any similarities to actual persons or events is purely; I do mean PURELY coincidental. Ray's Food Place is