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November 10, 1975: A date for observance

The Edmund Fizgerald, the large iron-ore tanker sunk in Lake Superior about 15 miles northwest of Whitefish Point off the coast of Paradise, Michigan. There are annual ceremonies to honor the sailors and their families on this day. The Grand Traverse Maritime Academy at Northwestern Michigan Community College in Traverse City and the museum at Whitefish Point are the locations for the memorial. This single event has become part of the Great Lakes culture and history and plays a significant role in reminding people of the power and force of the wind and water on this Great Lake.

At the Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Northwestern Michigan Community College in Traverse City, Michigan an annual observance is held to honor all maritime men and women lost at sea. When the Fitzgerald sunk, the Academy lost two of their young men.

Tom Bentsen was 23 years old when he died in Lake Superior that night. He was taking time off from the academy to come up through the ranks. This meant working on the Great Lakes ships as an oiler, or engineer's assistant. "He had to do it the hard way,"John Hayes of Traverse City recalls. "He was a cross between James Dean and the Fonz. He was larger than life. He was very proud. When he walked into a room all the girls would all go to him. He played bass guitar. He was supposed to be best man at my wedding, the following week."

David Weiss was a cadet at the academy from California. Barb Gibson of Traverse City, who attended the memorial, knew him. "He was a member of the same Temple I was. We were in our 20s and just starting out, thinking we could change the world," Gibson says. "His death, brings back our own mortality." People in the Great Lakes region have the weather to remind them how nature easily rules when conditions are right. "Living so close to the Great Lakes, you realize how quickly things can change," Gibson says. She remembers the impact on the community, 31 years ago. "Traverse City was smaller. The Maritime Academy was smaller. It was a small Jewish community here," she says, "they're not going to forget them."

http://www.ssefo.com/