officers contents

Officers of the FLA

President Stan Farnham	Stan Farnham has been a Forest Service firefighter, an Army paratroop officer, a company CEO, and president of several associations. He led five manufacturing companies, as a turnaround CEO, from dire straits to profitability in the 1990s. He and his wife Mary, who have six grown children, then moved to Florida when his interest in lighthouses heightened. His book, So You Want to Move to Florida, has a chapter in it on lighthouses.
Executive Vice President Eric Martin	Born in Richmond, Virginia, Eric moved to Winter Park, Florida at age 13 so he has been a long-time Florida resident. As a young man, he became an Eagle Scout with a bronze palm. He graduated form University of Central Florida in 1981 with a double major of History and Political Science. Eric says he’s been a lighthouse nut since 2002 and he’s seen, and climbed when available, 165 lighthouses including three lightships. Eric is President of the Florida Keys Reef Lights Foundatiom. He served a four-year term on the Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District. He’s married to Susan and has three children, Steven, Ian and Brooke. He works for Mears as a Motor Coach Operator.
Vice President - Membership Christi Sessions	Christi Sessions was born and raised in Milton, Florida. She moved to Fort White, Florida in 2000, and has since worked along side her husband in the HVACR Sales Industry. She spends her spare time flower gardening and playing with her two dogs, Foster and Ranger. She became interested in lighthouses after her first visit to the St. Augustine Lighthouse in 1999.
Vice Presidents - Meetings Dennis & Gayle Stemac	Dennis and Gayle were both born in Ohio but have been in Florida long enough to be considered “natives” by most. Gayle is a retired nurse and Dennis is a Systems Engineer for Verizon. They have a son, daughter-in-law, and daughter living in Tampa and 3 cats living at home with them. The love of lighthouses began back in the early 90’s because of a detour off I-95 to St. Simons Island to run a quick errand. St. Simons was their first lighthouse and still remains their all time favorite. In addition to being VP of Meetings for the FLA, Dennis and Gayle both serve on the board of the Tampa Bay Harbour Lights Collectors Club as treasurers. They reside in San Antonio, FL – just north of Tampa.
Vice President - Marketing/Fund Raising Charley & Lottie Knox	Charley and Lottie come from two very different backgrounds. Charley is originally from Gettysburg, PA and retired from the US Navy, while Lottie is from Jacksonville, FL and a retired banker from Barnett Bank. Charley and Lottie met each other just a few years ago while both of them were living in Ellijay, GA. They discovered that they both had roots in Winter Haven, FL and that kind of drew them together. They both realized that they enjoyed traveling and got involved RV'ing. They ended up in Saint Augustine, FL. While there they visited the beautiful St. Augustine lighthouse and knew they had found something they could enjoy together. While they traveled up the east coast they visited the lighthouses of the Outer Banks. That sealed their fate. That interest grew as they visited many different lighthouses in Florida. They heard of the Florida Lighthouse Association while exploring the internet and joined. While attending their first meeting, they met so many wonderful people that shared their interest of lighthouses. They knew they wanted to get more involved. Their interest has only increased while getting involved in trying to preserve the St. John's River lighthouse of 1859 located in Mayport, FL. Charley is currently the Secretary/Treasurer of the Mayport Lighthouse Association. They also are members of the American Lighthouse Foundation, United States Lighthouse Society, St Augustine Lighthouse Association and Tampa Bay Harbor Lights Collectors Club.
Vice-President for Grants Alfred King III	Al King is a Business Analyst for Masonite Corporation and resides in Tampa. He is responsible for providing data and customized reports that support the various divisions of the company. His interests are travel, photography and public arts. Al’s interest in lighthouses began after a trip to Ponce Inlet and a tour of the Fresnel lens exhibit. Since that time, he has visited over 200 lighthouses and participated in multiple challenge events. He is a member of multiple lighthouse groups including the Chesapeake Chapter of the USLHS and has been a member of the Florida Lighthouse Association since 2005.
VP Information Technology Webmaster Stan Beckstrom	Stan was raised in Chicago. He developed an interest in photography in High School and went to work for Eastman Kodak after graduation. After 10 years he started a nomad career working government contracts as photo technician and quality control manager. His work took him to Patrick Air Force Base, FL., Redstone Arsenal and NASA in Huntsville, AL., Houston, TX. and the Johnson Space Center, Dallas and then to Pratt & Whitney in West Palm Beach where he retired after 22 years. Stan served as Scoutmaster in Houston and Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He was president of the Band Patrons Association at North Shore H. S. in West Palm Beach. He and his wife Dottie were drawn together partly by their common love of lighthouses, in fact they spent their honeymoon visiting and photographing lighthouses. Then they discovered the FLA and were hooked.
Treasurer John Kennedy	John Kennedy was born and raised in Wisconsin. He received a B.B.A. from the U.W.Oshkosh and a M.A.T. in Education at U.W.Whitewater where he also completed the requirements for certification in School Business Management. He taught high school cooperative and business education classes for 21 years in Wisconsin and Florida. He is a Vietnam Veteran, has been a member of the Jaycees and Rotary, and volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America for many years. He and his wife, Kathy, have lived in Fort Myers since moving to Florida in 1978. They have been on lighthouse tours to Puerto Rico and Massachusetts and have visited many lights in other states. John is a member of the U.S.L.H.S., A.L.F., G.L.L.K.A., Harbor Lighthouse Collectors, and several individual Florida lighthouse associations. His first lighthouse was the Racine Reef that he saw on a day at a Lake Michigan beach.
Secretary Beverly Oakes	Beverly has been interested in lighthouses for over 20 years, but didn't start visiting and climbing them until becoming a member of FLA in 1998 when she and her husband, Gene Oakes (recently deceased and past FLA president) attended their first meeting in Amelia Island, Florida. She has worked at JEA, the Jacksonville Florida utility company for 17 years in IT. In addition to lighthouses, her interests include genealogy, photography, scrapbooking and music. Currently, she serves as committee chair for the Gene Oakes Memorial Specialty License Plate project. Efforts are underway to obtain a Florida Specialty License Plate for the FLA to provide funds for the preservation and maintenance of Florida's 29 lighthouses.
Assistant Secretary Sharon Puls	Sharon served in the Navy for 2 years. She worked in the Veterans Hospital as a Nurse, retiring after 25 years. She took part in the restoration of the Anclote Key Lighthouse. Sharon is an avid collector of Harbour Lights miniature lighthouses.
Historian Neil Hurley	Neil Hurley is a retired Coast Guard Commander who has served on our board since the FLA was formed. Neil has been researching Florida lighthouse history for more than 15 years, and is the author of several books and articles on Florida lighthouse history and the creator of the Florida Lighthouse Page on the internet. He was featured on the PBS-TV Series "Legendary Lighthouses", and has served as a historical consultant on archeological work at the site of the first Pensacola Lighthouse. In addition to maintaining a database of all Florida Lighthouse Keepers, he is currently nearing publication of a new book "Florida's Lighthouses in the Civil War.
Past President Gene Oakes	The office of Past President is unfortunately vacant due to the untimely death of Gene Oakes during his term as president. Gene was a strong supporter and passionate lover of our lighthouses. His spirit still guides much of what we do and accomplish. We are honored to have his picture listed with our officers.