08/31/2026
“Burgess Bauder finally died. And he loved pink.”
Those are the words Burgess wanted to be remembered by, and the more I think about them, the more they make me smile because they are so completely him.
For those who didn’t know Burgess, he was the man who built the Sitka Lighthouse and lived in this community for more than 50 years. His loss is being felt in a big way, but I keep coming back to how lucky Sitka was to have him for that long. Not every town gets a Burgess Bauder.
When I bought the lighthouse, he was right around the age he had always told me the men in his family didn’t seem to live past. He talked about it enough that I knew it was something he carried with him. Then he went and made it to 81, which also feels very Burgess.
He was a man known for having nine lives; which isn’t lost on me because my friends say the same thing about me. Maybe that comes with the territory of owning a lighthouse… you understand how to cheat death a bit.
He was unconventional, stubborn, funny, deeply caring and completely himself. He loved animals, he cared about people, and underneath all of the eccentricities he really did try to do what he believed was right.
He also believed in women, and he believed in me.
When I bought the lighthouse, I had no real understanding of how much I was taking on. Burgess did. There were many times when he believed in me more than I believed in myself, especially as a woman trying to build a business around something he had spent so much of his life creating. I understand now what a gift that was.
I have a lot of Burgess stories. Some are beautiful, some are ridiculous, and some sound completely made up unless you knew him. I’ll share more of them in time.
One thing I realized after he died is that somehow, after all these years, I don’t have a single photo of the two of us together. I told a friend that, and they sent me this image.
It isn’t a real photograph, but somehow it still feels right. Burgess, his beloved bird, the lighthouse, and the two of us looking at each other. So I wanted to share it…
Sitka was lucky to have him, so was I.
I’ll always leave the light on for you Burgess. Thank you for believing in me.
Love, Teal
