Bob Schnepfe: Detailing Sussex County lighthouses

Bob Schnepfe is a stickler for details, and he's recently used more than 40 years of engineering education and work experience, plus his eye for detail, to publish a book chronicling Sussex County’s lighthouses, past and present.

Schnepfe lives in Rehoboth Beach with lifelong friend Barbara Dougherty. He was born in Baltimore, but was one of a group of kids who spent summers of the 1940s and 50s in Dewey Beach water-skiing, crabbing and boating in Rehoboth Bay. Schnepfe’s first job was at the age of 18 when he worked at the Bottle & Cork.

From an early age, Schnepfe took a liking to the idea of a career in the detail-oriented world of engineering and design. He went to Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and then to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Schnepfe worked for 38 years as an engineer and manager for AAI Corporation, a defense research and development contractor in Hunt Valley, Md. He developed and oversaw mechanical designs for ordnance devices and systems.

Schnepfe said the company had contracts with just about every branch of the United States military – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and NASA. He said 12 of his designs are patented.

“If I say, ‘Huh,’ during the interview it was because I was in the ordnance business for 38 years,” he said while both laughing and apologizing at one point. “We were blowing things up all the time.”

Schnepfe's commitment to details spilled over into his leisure activities too.

Schnepfe and a co-worker from AAI Corporation went into the painstaking and time-consuming horse business together. He said the co-worker was a trainer, and he convinced him it was something the two should go in on together.

He said they had stallions and mares, and they raced, showed and participated in eventing – an equestrian competition in the three disciplines: dressage, cross-country and show jumping. He described a typical day being at the race track at 4 a.m. to work the horses and then to work by 8 a.m.

When asked if he got into horses as a way to relieve stress from being around guns all day, Schnepfe said he never thought about it.

“I was just always into horses,” he said. “It was just something I like to do.”

Schnepfe looks back on those days fondly, but admits it was grueling.

“I couldn’t do that now,” he said shaking his head with a smile.

Painting lighthouses

Now, Schnepfe has turned his love for details into the publishing of a book entitled “Sussex County Delaware Lighthouse.” The book was published in early 2015.

Ten lighthouses are featured in the book: two Cape Henlopen Beacons; Green Hill Rear Range Light; Strickland Front Range Light; Harbor of Refuge Light and its temporary replacement made of wood; Cape Henlopen Lighthouse; Mispillion Lighthouse; Delaware Breakwater and Fenwick Island.

The book, similar to Schnepfe’s artwork, is simple, elegant and to the point. It’s 21 pages long, printed on a thick, bright, white paper stock, with a straightforward type. It looks like it was done by an author who understands that people appreciate a finished product that’s easily understood.

It’s in the book’s simplicity that a reader sees Schnepfe’s attention to detail. The historic descriptions not only give the significant dates, locations and uses of each lighthouse, there’s also specific construction dimensions. A few examples include: the first Cape Henlopen Beacon was a 45-foot-tall stone tower; Cape Henlopen Lighthouse had a light 82 feet above the hexagonal base, which was 26 feet in diameter with 6-foot thick walls; Fenwick Island Lighthouse is built of brick and 75.5 feet tall.

Schnepfe describes the style of painting he uses as DRART – a combination of the words draft and art. He uses the same tools to paint as he did when he was an engineer. The studio at his home in Rehoboth consists of a table on the porch, with a box of pencils, triangles and French curves.

He began exploring his artistic capabilities in the early 2000s when he signed up for an acrylics painting class at Wilmington University. He took the class as a way to be productive during the day while his wife, Eileen, who died in 2007, was at the Gull House Adult Day services because of Alzheimer's disease.

Schnepfe said he took the acrylics painting class because that style allows the artist a certain level of mistakes. A person can just paint over a mistake, he said.

He said he never considered himself a future painter but learned a few tricks from instructor Linda Mankowski, and, he said, he’s pleased with how the lighthouses turned out.

“I learned a few techniques, but I’m not going to tell the secret,” he said with a wry smile.

The lighthouses and surrounding buildings were easiest to paint, because, Schnepfe said, they are a bunch of straight lines.

The parts of the paintings that require a little more artistic interpretation – clouds, rocks and trees – are a different story.

“The clouds are OK, some better than others,” he said. “The rocks, you wouldn’t believe how many coats of paint there are.”

Schnepfe said he was inspired to create a book of Sussex County lighthouses after he and Dougherty visited Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Reason for the book

Schnepfe is selling copies of the book for $5, with all of the money going towards the Sussex County Cancer Survivors Fund. He and Dougherty have become active with the organization after both battled through bouts of the disease.

Since 2004, Schnepfe has had 10 cancer operations, starting with cancer of the bladder. In 2006, he was diagnosed with cancer of the appendix. His cancer has yet to be declared in remission.

Dougherty was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in the abdominal cavity in April 2012. A year later, in April 2013, after a series of chemotherapy treatments and surgery, her cancer was declared in remission.

Schnepfe said if all books from the first round of books get sold, he’ll have more printed. The book currently can be purchased through the Beebe Medical Foundation and in its gift and thrift shops, Sussex County Cancer Survivors Fund, All Saints Thrift Store in Rehoboth, Rehoboth Art League in Henlopen Acres, and at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth.

Schnepfe said there will be more locations to buy the book to come.