Another beach season — Memorial Day to Labor Day — ended Monday.
The lifeguards stowed their boards and buoys for the last time. They locked the shack. They left the last motivational quote on the temperature-and-tide sign; the next one will posted 9 months from now.
It was a quiet final day.
That’s the way the lifeguards like it.
We did not hear, this summer, about any catastrophes. Not even a close call.
We did not hear a panicked cry for help, or the wails of ambulances.
That’s because the lifeguards did their job — every day, 7 days a week, from Memorial Day to Labor Day — so that they wouldn’t have to do that job.
Compo lifeguards on Monday: the last hour of the last day. (Photo/Dan Woog)
So: What did they do?
They performed first aid, for everything from heatstroke to splinters.
They found missing kids.
They helped people use the special wheelchairs that enable less abled beachgoers to enjoy the shore.
They trained, and practiced — just in case.
And every day, they posted a different motivational quote on the whiteboard in their shack.
That’s the way they roll. And all summer, they rocked it.
One morning — before the beach opened — Parks & Rec sponsored the Lifeguard Olympics.
This week’s Unsung Heroes are our superb lifeguards — at Compo, Longshore and Burying Hill.
Let’s hear it for their boss, Danilo Sierra-Girlado too, plus senior foreman Mike Giunta, and our new Parks & Recreation Department director, Erik Barbieri.
They didn’t make any headlines this year. Which is exactly how they like it.
So this story will have to suffice.
(“06880” is proud to honor Unsung Heroes — and tell many other tales of town too. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog.)
Loved my summer as a lifeguard at Compo 1965! Also Burying Hill and Old Mill!
Phil Walklet has been seeing that the pools open and run smoothly every season that I have been in Westport (20+years)…so here’s to the long-standing unsung heroes! Many, many thanks to each and every one of the invaluable staff, each and every summer. Brinton Parson