73 years together and still going, Tom and JoAn McAdams continue to leave imprint on coastal community

• Editor’s note: This feature usually has five questions and features just one person. This article is a bit longer, with eight questions featuring a well-known Lincoln County couple.

By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/Lincoln Chronicle

Stories, so many stories.

Tom and JoAn McAdams, two of Newport’s most respected and well-loved people, each have a lifetime of stories to share about their long, productive, happy lives. Tom became something of a legend during the 27 years he served in the U.S. Coast Guard, including a decade spent at the Yaquina Bay Station. JoAn is equally  legendary for the countless hours she has spent volunteering in the community.

Now both in their 90s, they have lived through times that will never be seen again, beginning with their childhoods. When they were young the daily command from their mothers was simple “Go outside and play!”

JoAn grew up in Arizona, mostly in a small mining town where her father worked as the railroad clerk, tagging along whenever she could with her two older brothers. Life, however, was often turbulent and unstable. Her parents married and divorced each other three times. Her family endured her baby sister’s death, and one of her brothers was severely burned attempting to jump over a campfire.

Tom grew up in Ballard, Wash. where he and his older brother logged hundreds of hours in the woods near the ship canal, building rope swings and hopping railroad cars. Tom began working at an early age, manning a netted trap used to catch herring for local fishermen to use as bait. Tom earned 25 cents for each dozen herring that he caught. He suffered the first of his nine broken noses when he lost hold of the net’s winch one night and the handle smacked his face.

Question: How did you meet one another:

Tom: When I graduated from high school I knew I wanted to join the service. I joined the Coast Guard in December 1950 simply because the recruiting station was closer to my house than any of the other services. My first duty station was here in Newport, and back then family members and friends could come to the station to visit. JoAn’s brother was stationed there with me. At the time we pretty much hated one another.  But when his sister, JoAn, started visiting him I immediately noticed her, and asked him if he thought she’d go out with me. His response was cold: “Ask her yourself.” So I did. One night we went out to the Midway Theatre and saw two movies – The Red Bull Express and The Wake of the Red Witch. And then we went out for coffee at the golf course — and then we parked by the lighthouse for a while — and then I asked her to marry me and then she said yes!

JoAn: My sister-in-law had just had a baby, and I was in Newport helping her, but I was also taking a break from my life in Arizona, where I had recently gone through a divorce. I had married at 15, desperate to escape my chaotic childhood, but it quickly became clear that wasn’t the right choice. When I stopped by the station to visit my brother, Tom caught my attention. He was calm and had the respect of the other men. He was the opposite of the chaos I had known. Our date was lovely and long and saying yes to his proposal felt absolutely right.

Q: How did you manage to stay together after such a spontaneous decision to get married?

JoAn: I came into our marriage with my 14-month-old daughter, Patricia. Even though my divorce was quite straightforward I had to fight for full custody. Things moved very quickly for Tom and I – we got married at his grandparents’ home just 13 days later, and we only saw each other for seven of those days because he was on duty every other night. I think the respect we felt for one another has been what has carried our marriage for 73 years.

Tom: Quite a few people thought we were crazy. My brother and my dad immediately took a bus from Seattle to ‘check out’ JoAn. Both were as impressed as I was. My mother had just one question: “Does she take good care of the baby?” Since the answer was yes, she was satisfied. I had been watching Patricia at the station as closely as I’d been watching JoAn – I knew she’d be easy to love, too.

Q: What did the early years in the Coast Guard bring?

Tom: A lot of watches and drills and waiting for calls. More than anything, I wanted to be on the water. The urgency and the danger created so much adrenaline. Most of our calls then were from commercial fishing boats, not recreational ones. I was very fortunate — I never got seasick, no matter how violently our rescue boat was rolling. That’s true for only 10-20 percent of people. A rescue boat needed at least three people — an engineer, a boatswain and a seaman. I was the boatswain, and the other two were almost always as seasick as the fishermen we were headed to rescue.

JoAn: Since I grew up in the desert it took time to adjust to Pacific Northwest weather. And although my family never had much it took some time to adjust to Tom’s pay. As an E5 he earned $147 a month plus $37.50 because they were married. Our rent was $50 per month, so we had to be careful with every dollar. At first I worried constantly when Tom went out to sea, even calling the station to learn when they would return. But after one particularly long and dangerous rescue I realized my worrying helped no one. I simply decided to let it go.

Q: How did things change as Tom spent more time in the Coast Guard?

Tom: I moved up the ladder gradually, and got more experience managing the vessels and the people. We moved frequently – 12 times in 27 years. I served at four different stations along the coast, including three tours at Yaquina Bay, three assignments on boats/ships, one at the Seattle district office, and one in Japan. My third tour at Yaquina Bay (1973-1977) was quite different than the earlier ones. By then recreational fishing had exploded, and many people were cavalier about journeying out into the Pacific Ocean. Most boats were wooden, and most motors were too small. On one particularly rough day at the mouth of Yaquina Bay we rescued 16 people.

JoAn: Military life can be very hard on marriages – we saw many friends divorce over the years. I was fortunate that I didn’t mind moving – in fact, I thrived on the excitement of exploring new locations. Tom and I had two more children, Cindy and Michael. While they were in grade school they adapted easily to each new town, but they were much less excited about moving when they were in high school. As Tom’s pay improved things became easier. In some places we lived close enough to the station that the children could actually see Tom at work, which helped make up for the many times he was gone. In Coos Bay we lived in a house at the station built from shipwrecked lumber, and the tide moved in and out under our home. When Tom was away for long stretches the children and I often stayed with his parents. That extra support made a tremendous difference for all of us.

Q: Tom, what would you consider your most exciting rescue during your years in the Coast Guard?

A: Overall, I’m credited with rescuing 100 people during my time in the service. Most were “all in a day’s work” but some were unforgettable, and one does stand out. At the Yaquina Bay Station in 1953 on New Year’s Eve we took a call at 4 p.m. from the F/V Uyak, disabled just outside the bar. The weather was brutal, with the wind at 40 knots and 25-30 foot breakers. Several men were on leave for the holiday, so I went out in one of our 36-footers with just one other crewman, Ray Miller. That rescue didn’t end until 2 a.m. on Jan. 2, 34 hours later. Everything went wrong. We had to attach our tow line twice. The bar was too dangerous to cross back to the bay. Miller was severely seasick. The storm kept building. The tow line tangled in the propeller of our boat. We nearly collided with a second 36-foot Coast Guard boat that had been sent to assist. But worst of all, Miller went overboard. I was barely able to pull him out of the water, and we finally beached just south of the South Jetty. Newport sirens were welcoming us in. It’s hard to describe how exhausted and frozen Miller and I were – but we both were back at work the next day.

Q: What made Tom decide to retire?

Tom: Like any service, the Coast Guard has its share of bureaucracy, and sometimes there can be difficult people within it. I was asked to transfer to a ship when my son was in high school and I declined because I felt it was important to remain at Yaquina Bay for him. It turned out that declining was not an option, so I retired instead. I had hoped to retire with 30 years of service, and with additional credit for good service I had more than that.

Q: What came after the years in the Coast Guard?

JoAn: By the time Tom retired we were empty nesters. The biggest adjustment for me was realizing we weren’t moving anymore. I had never had “roots” in my entire life, so it took me a few years to settle in and appreciate the stability.  I got my pilot’s license shortly after he retired. I still have it, though I haven’t flown for quite a while. Wherever we lived I volunteered — often at hospitals or community centers. In Newport I became involved with the Loyalty Days Celebration which is held early in May and always includes a big parade, a loyalty court and the blessing of the fleet. Loyalty Day is a national holiday established by President Eisenhower in 1955 during the Cold War. Before long I was running the event and that kept me busy for nearly 20 years. Then the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center acquired its new building on the Bayfront, and I worked for 10 years with a team of eight people to remodel it. We literally did almost all the work ourselves.

Tom: After the Coast Guard I got a great job managing the log dump and operating a tugboat at the Guy Roberts Lumber Mill in Toledo. I also joined the Newport volunteer fire department which filled my adrenaline need.

The calls were very different than the Coast Guard calls. In the Coast Guard it took forever to get to the person who needed help, and forever to get back to the station. With the fire department you’re on the scene in minutes, you put out the fire, usually in short order, and then you’re done. I have been honored to be asked to be an expert witness at several trials involving Coast Guard operations. This started while I was in the Coast Guard and continued for many years thereafter. We never lost a trial that I was called for — we either won or they were settled out of court. And I taught a life-saving course for fishermen at the Oregon Coast Community College for many years.

Q: What is keeping you busy in this decade of your life?

JoAn: I am still active at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, but definitely less so now that the remodel is complete. I taught myself to sew early in our marriage and have always kept a sewing room – I just finished making myself a faux fur jacket. And, of course, we have our family to keep up with – our three children, three grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

Tom: We have both had some health issues in recent years, which has slowed us down a bit. These days I enjoy visiting with friends, stopping by the Coast Guard Station and enjoying our beautiful view of Yaquina Bay. I also value time with Joe Novello who wrote a book about me in 2021: Master Chief Thomas McAdams: The Stories that Made the Legend.

Q: What advice would you give to younger people:

Tom: Don’t overthink the decisions in your life, big or small. Trust yourself — do what comes naturally and what you know is right.

JoAn: Communication and conversation are critically important in any marriage, but especially in a marriage where one or both spouses are in the military.  Each person must share what is on their mind.

• Kathleen O’Connor is a Waldport freelance writer who can be reached via email at [email protected]