>> Click to enlarge << Connie’s husband Elson Small was keeper at ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

Connie Scovill Small is known to lighthouse buffs as the author of the book “The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife” and as an inspiration to all who have the good fortune to meet her. Her down-to-earth wisdom, warmth and her love of lighthouses are contagious. Connie turned 103 on June 4, 2004. On the day before her birthday at her home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Connie displayed a quilt she created during the years (1930-1946) she and her husband spent at Maine’s St. Croix River Lighthouse. That lighthouse is gone now, but thanks to the quilt, we can share in Connie’s fond memories of the island she knew as “a little paradise.”

>> Click to enlarge << Connie with birthday well-wishers, from left: ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << Elson Small brought an old Model T converted into ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << Connie Small points out some of the highlights of ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << Connie had a pet canary at St. Croix Island. She ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << All that remains of the light station at St. ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << The Saint Croix Island International Historic ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << The St. Croix River Lighthouse. Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont

>> Click to enlarge << The lighthouse at St. Croix Island was destroyed ... Photo by: Jeremy D'Entremont