In Memoriam

“We’re built to cruise for but awhile upon the track­less sea, until one day we sail into Infin­i­ty..”                                                                  The Ship Of Life
By John T. Baker

Dr. Jack Hoover, founder (along with Mr. Pat Keene) ‘crossed the bar’ ear­li­er this week. Our Mis­sis­sip­pi Ship­build­ing and Mar­itime Cen­ter’s crew is deeply sad­dened by Dr. Hoover’s tran­si­tion. Both Dr. Hoover and Mr. Pat Keene (also deceased) believed in the mar­itime spir­it and cul­tur­al her­itage of our great Mis­sis­sip­pi gulf coast. Dr. Hoover’s mar­itime entre­pre­neur­ial expe­ri­ence allowed the cre­ation of his pas­sion “to cre­ate a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion to edu­cate and impas­sion our region’s sig­nif­i­cant mar­itime con­tri­bu­tions in both ship­build­ing and mar­itime her­itage achieved for the past 400 years.”
       Dr. Hoover was our orga­ni­za­tion’s back­bone for inspi­ra­tion. Our exec­u­tive direc­tor, Lor­ren West, met with Dr. Hoover month­ly at his res­i­dence in Span­ish Fort, AL. Ms. West gained insight­ful, invalu­able expe­ri­ences as Dr. Hoover mapped out his vision to help our com­mu­ni­ties inter­pret the local mar­itime world.
Dr. Hoover’s vision and con­vic­tion will live on in our mis­sion “To Pre­serve the his­to­ry and engage the future of Mis­sis­sip­pi’s Ship­build­ing and Mar­itime Innovations.”