Captain Ron celebrates his 90th Birthday
Today marked a milestone for a gem here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Captain Ron Reiter, the skipper of the Maritime Museum’s Biloxi schooners, celebrated 90 years of life.
Over the years, Captain Ron has become an icon on the Coast. One crew member even says ‘he’s not from the Coast, but he makes the Coast.’
“What gets anybody involved in painting, animals, whatever– sailing appealed to me. For one thing every day is a challenge. It’s never the same. And with what I’m doing here, the people are always different. It’s an opportunity to share one of my big passions with a lot of people. And how good can it get?”
From 12-foot sailboats on the Ottawa River and Maumee Bay in Toledo, Ohio to 80-foot replica oyster schooners in Biloxi, Mississippi, in his 90 years of life, and his 85 years of sailing, Captain Ron Reiter has never ventured far from the water. “Why do people like to eat? It’s just what is it. It’s something that just came natural. I like it.”
Even when Captain Ron was anchored to land and serving in the Army in 1952 and 53, he found a way to put his sea skills to good use. “I was in the Army– one of the things I did was run the river boat, building pontoon bridges. It just happened. They were having trouble getting– some pontoons broke away and the captain started yelling for someone to take the boat and nobody knew what to do. So?”
A life on the water doesn’t come without its trials. While Captain Ron enjoys that every day presents a new challenge, several storms and two sunken boats are a few of the greater obstacles the seasoned sailor has faced. “Those things were a challenge in themselves. Some of the storms and things you work your way through successfully are the things that you remember and I consider big challenges. It’s like anything else that you do in life, some of it is successful and some of it’s not. And what’s not is every bit as important as what was. And that’s how I got to where I am today.”
Captain Ron continues to spread his love for sailing through walk-on sails that are open to the public, group charters, and kids’ camps.
