DCMM Announces Mariner Awards

Sturgeon Bay, Wis. (August 12, 2024) – On Monday, August 5, the recipients of the annual Door County Mariner Awards and Coast Guard Person of the Year Award were announced at the Door County Maritime Museum. Chief Petty Officer Luke Berghuis, Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay, received the Coast Guard Person of the Year Award. Rosie & Louis Janda were recognized with the Mariner Award, while Charles W. Asher received a Posthumous Mariner Award.

The Coast Guard Person of the Year Award recognizes a local Coast Guard member who exemplifies the Guard’s core values of Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty. The award is sponsored by the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard Committee, the Greater Green Bay Chapter of the U.S. Navy League, and the Door County Maritime Museum. The winner is selected from nominees submitted by the USCGC Mobile Bay (WTGB 103), USCG Marine Safety Unit Sturgeon Bay and USCG Station Sturgeon Bay. 

CGPOY: Chief Petty Officer Luke Berghuis, Coast Guard Cutter Mobile Bay

As the First Lieutenant leading Mobile Bay’s ten-member Deck Department, Chief Berghuis consistently exhibits the highest levels of professional maritime competence, and his leadership spearheads Coast Guard operations with vast economic impacts throughout local communities and beyond. In the past year, he has led Mobile Bay’s buoy deck crew through the safe and successful servicing of 202 aids to navigation in the waterways of Sturgeon Bay, Green Bay, and the greater Lake Michigan Maritime Transportation System. Additionally, as Mobile Bay’s senior Deck Watch Officer during this past 2023-2024 icebreaking season, he was instrumental in escorting nine vessels carrying over $21 Million in petroleum products and dry goods to Green Bay and other ports throughout the Great Lakes region. In addition to his operational impacts and contributions, as Mobile Bay’s senior-most Chief Petty Officer, Chief Berghuis serves as both mentor and leader to the cutter’s 24 enlisted member workforce, proving a valuable role-model for junior members to emulate while also consistently serving as a reliable source of experienced advice and sage wisdom for all. He also helped lead the charge for Mobile Bay’s annual ‘Ghost Ship’ community event in October 2023, which hosted more than 450 community members and collected over 460 pounds in food donations to support the region’s needs.

Presented by the Door County Maritime Museum, the Mariner Award recognizes individuals who have had a significant, positive, lasting impact on the Door County maritime community. The Mariner Award is given to one living recipient and also posthumously to historical Door County maritime figures.

Mariner Award: Louis and Rosie Janda 

Louis and Rosie Jandawere volunteer caretakers who resided in the Cana Island Lighthouse keeper’s quarters from 1977 to 1995. The Jandas worked tirelessly during the summer months to repair and maintain the buildings during their residency, and were a valuable resource for both the island’s history and technical knowledge of the structures. According to the Jandas, little or no maintenance was performed at the light station from 1970 to their arrival, so the family immediately undertook maintenance and upkeep projects similar to those undertaken by the generations of Keepers before them. The whole Janda family worked to bring the buildings of the Cana Island Light Station back to a safe and presentable condition. The Janda family ceased occupation of the light station after the summer of 1995, at which point the buildings were converted into a museum site. That conversion would have been impossible if not for the dedicated labors of Louis, Rosie and their family. It is truly only with the assistance of the Janda family that there is a light station left on Cana Island, now open for the public to visit. DCMM also extends appreciation to Louis for service of more than 20 years on the Museum’s board of directors.

Posthumous Mariner Award: Charles W. Asher

Charles W Asher was born June 2, 1918. In 1940, Charles married his college sweetheart, Hilda Roen, daughter of the legendary Captain John Roen. During World War II, Charles served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy aboard an LST in the Pacific. After returning from the war, Charles worked at Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Dry Dock until starting the Roen Salvage Company in 1949. The company operated and still operates today in all phases of heavy marine construction, dredging, submarine pipelines and cables, boat docks, marinas,· breakwaters, navigational light structures, revetment repair, confined disposal structures, demolition, underwater blasting, and coffer dams. Roen Salvage contracted with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast Guard, many state and municipal government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. From a single tug and one barge operation in the 1950s, Charles Asher’s vision continued during his lifetime resulting in his company now operating six tugs, four crane barges and eight deck scows throughout the Great Lakes. Roen Salvage Co., founded by Charles Asher, continues to be well-respected by the entire Great Lakes marine construction industry.

Additionally, two Door County members of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary were acknowledged for their work with our local active duty Coast Guard units. Jeff Feuerstein and Pete LeMere were recently recognized not only by local Coast Guard leadership, but they were both commended by the Commandant of the Coast Guard for their work as Culinary Assistants aboard the Mobile Bay and at Station Sturgeon Bay.