Wednesday, December 13th, 2017
Lighting the way
Downed tree now shines as centerpiece at Otterbein
By Sydney Albert
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
John Guagenti works on a lighthouse carving at Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices during a recent brief snowfall. Once completed, the lighthouse will have space for a light bulb in the top.
ST. MARYS - Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices soon will have its own lighthouse overlooking the waters of Grand Lake thanks to resident Mike Lynch and woodcarver John Guagenti of On Track Carvings.
About a year ago, Otterbein officials were having trees removed around the community, including one in Lynch's backyard, and he saw potential.
"Just kept looking at it and I said, 'That's gotta be a lighthouse.' So when they cut the tree down I said, 'Leave me a 12-foot stump,' which they did," he said.
The back room of the Lynch home is decorated wall to wall in pictures and other souvenirs he and his wife, Miriam, have bought from lighthouses they've visited, from Michigan to Maine to Oregon. Even so, Mike Lynch said not everything was on display. The couple has been to more lighthouses and collected more souvenirs than they have space to show.
"Probably for the last 15 years one of our hobbies had been to tour lighthouses," he said. "We enjoy the history, the culture, the stories associated with them."
As a little girl, Miriam Lynch read stories about families who lived in lighthouses, which sparked her interest in them. Mike Lynch said about 15 years ago, the couple finally stayed in a bed and breakfast lighthouse in Michigan, describing it as a fun adventure that led to another and then another.
Guagenti has done other local carvings, including an ironworker and a Rotary logo in St. Marys and the military symbols in Coldwater Memorial Park, which is how Lynch knew of him. Carving is his full-time job, a skill he taught himself when he was younger.
"My buddy wanted a catfish carved, so I carved one for him. I grabbed my dad's saw and I just - I don't know, I'm a natural," Guagenti said, laughing. "3-D's pretty - it's not easy, but it's natural as opposed to drawing."
The lighthouse Guagenti is working on is modeled after the Northmoor Lighthouse, which is in turn modeled after the Eddystone Lighthouse in England, Lynch explained. The finished carving will be stained and sealed with brick wrapping around the bottom and space for a light bulb to be installed at the top.
