Barbara Wood has donated her’s dad vintage runabout to the New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Discover Clean and Safe Boating educational campaign. With her are U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 9th Eastern Region Immediate Past Division 2 Commander Gene Little, left, and NYSG Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist David G. White. Credit: USCGA/Meg Little.

Gift Honors WWII Veteran and Career Educator

Contacts:
 
Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation and Tourism Specialist, E: dgw9@cornell.edu, P: 315-312- 3042

Kara Lynn Dunn, Great Lakes Publicist, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315-465-7578

Oswego, NY, May 29, 2019 - Barbara Wood’s dad, the late Robert H. Wood, a WWII veteran and career educator, loved teaching and boating, and, so, she has donated his 1967 Evinrude Playmate runabout for New York Sea Grant’s award-winning Discover Clean and Safe Boating public education campaign.

“We gladly accept this gift from the Wood family in honor of their dad. His boat will be used to continue his educational legacy as it promotes boating safety, how non-boating passengers can handle a boat during an emergency, and how recreational boaters can help slow the spread of aquatic invasive species,” said Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign coordinator and New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist David G. White, Oswego, N.Y.

Robert H. Wood was a career educator. Following service in World War II as a B-17 bomber pilot, he earned his education degree and taught school in the Marcellus School District before serving as a Principal with the Fabius School District. In 1982, he began 20 years of service with the Watertown City School District as superintendent in Watertown, N.Y.

Barbara recalls that in his free time her dad also organized summer boating safety training on Otisco Lake for the local youth and believes he may have been first to do so. His vintage watercraft will now continue that mission statewide with boaters of all ages.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 9th Eastern Region, Division 2, Ithaca, N.Y., a partner in the Discover Clean and Safe Boating educational campaign, facilitated the boat donation.

U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 9th Eastern Region Immediate Past Division 2 Commander Gene Little commented, “The Wood family donation demonstrates the importance of boating safety instruction to the public. It will be an honor to work alongside the Wood family boat and New York Sea Grant to teach people how to be safe on the water.”

Later this year, the boat will be featured as part of a multi-vessel New York State maritime history and boating safety information exhibit organized by New York Sea Grant for the 2019 Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, N.Y.

For more information on the New York Sea Grant Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign, visit www.nyseagrant.org/marina.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.