My most memorable experience with Harbour Lights was the almost 5 hours my wife and I spent with Bill, one on one so to speak, back in 1996. He came to Gainesville, FL for a signing on Friday, and also to visit his brother while he was there, before going to Jacksonville for a signing on Saturday. Kim had called previous to Bill's visit and asked if Bill could meet with Amy and myself on Thursday evening and take us out to dinner. I, of course, said yes. We met Bill at the Olive Garden Restaurant, and then after dinner, Bill surprised us by asking if he could come back to our home and visit with us before he headed to his brother's house in Gainesville. After we arrived at our house, Bill volunteered to sign all of my lighthouses(about 150 at that time) and then we sat and talked for about 2 hours. He made me promise that I would never mention this to anyone for fear he would make others mad. I feel I have kept my promise not to talk about this for almost 15 years, and now that Bill is retired, I don't see how anyone could get upset if I tell about this experience.

We talked about many things, including the story about how Cape Canaveral Lighthouse was photographed when it was basically closed to the public, and how the base commander's wife arranged for this to take place and was provided with one of the first pieces to present to her husband when he retired. We talked about many other things, but, as time passes after almost 15 years many of the subjects we talked about are forgotten. I just hope I remembered the story about the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse happening exactly as Bill related it to me. One thing I will never forget is the conversation that Amy and I had with Bill concerning lighthouse collecting and the secondary market values. Bill asked me a point blank question about "why I was interested in collecting Harbour Lights"? "Was I collecting them because of the secondary market value increase over the retail price or was I going to pass them on as an inheritance to my children"? My answer to Bill was "I am collecting Harbour Lights because I love lighthouses and during my Coast Guard career I worked on and visited many of the lighthouses in the Virginia, Georgia and Florida area". Bill looked at Amy and myself with that little twinkle in his eyes and replied "good answer because if your collecting them for an investment, in all probability within 10 years they will most likely not be worth what you paid for them at retail."

How correct Bill was when he predicted the value of these little replicas within 10 years. However, each time I look at my collection and think about what Bill said during his visit, my collection becomes even more valuable to me, with or without a secondary market value.

I'd sure like to hear about other's most memorable experiences. Please take some time to make a post about your memories.

Yes, you kept your promise, and now what a wonderful story to hear. I am so glad you shared and I hope others have similar stories to share. It's been a huge privilege to know Bill and family, and in my opinion stories like yours just add to the goodness of it all. You must have been shocked to hear him say his opinion about the probable value in 10 or later years. I came to Arizona in 2004 with about 24 lighthouses, so I didn't experience Harbour Lights in the early years like you did, but when I was able to really make my collection in 2006 and 2007, I think I became as happy and excited as anyone could be. I love my lighthouses and look at them every day. Right now I don't have any room for my newest purchases of this year and am waiting to be able to buy a new cabinet and then everything will be out again. Thank you.

Bill never took me to Dinner!?!?!

Great story Rich.
But I have one question.
If you started collecting that long ago , why did it take you so long to join the forum.

I never got a computer until Christmas of 2000 when my daughter bought it for a Christmas present. We weren't allowed to use the company computers and it wasn't until October of 2001 that I felt I needed to join. Probably the only reason for joining then was the Marketplace Forum as I was buying lighthouses to complete my collection. Sellers wouldn't list their phone numbers and I needed to contact them to buy.

Great story Rich!

Thanks for sharing it!

My harbour Light experiences are too numerous to mention.
Highlights
- all Reunions, Regionals and Dave trips
- Many full days of sitting one on one with Bill at Cedar Island LH during the Long Island Challenge
- Being able to buy lunch, a jewish deli cornbeef sandwich on two consecutive days for BY
- winning a Gold HL at my dealer
- any Lighthousing with the PIXIE!

My most memorable HLs experiences:
* First HL store event and meeting Bill
* Winning my first Gold.
* Winning my second Gold.
* Winning my third Gold.
* Purchasing my first AP - Half Moon Reef
* my first Reunion the Mackinac Reunion
* my first Regional event - Portsmouth
* the Alaska Reunion which also included my first experience of lighthousing with Pixie!

Long story, but shows why people had such affinity for Bill Younger and family.

Those who were fortunate enough to be collectors in the late 1990s and early 2000s know several things about Bill Younger.

(1) At signing events and the large trade shows like Rosemont, Bill often enlisted young collectors from the audience to help – especially with drawings.

(2) Bill would often times “pick” on the young volunteer.

(3) There was always an interesting ongoing exchange between Bill and whoever was helping him – Nancy, Kim, Harry, Maureen and others.

One year at Rosemont Bill asked our daughter, Heather, to help pass out prizes. As part of the banter, Bill teased that for Heather and Maureen a gourmet meal was a cheeseburger happy meal. Lots of good fun and embarrassment. And of course one of those things that you just can’t let go of.

The community where we live was scheduled to receive the very first McDonald’s McDiner – a more full service diner set up down at the arches. Heather started to bug Bill that he would have to come have a gourmet meal with her at the McDiner.
Early August 2001 Bill was going to be in Indiana. There was a signing and Bill was going to Michigan City with Paul & Sue Brady so Paul could shoot pictures of Bill at the light with the light (that was the year that the Old Michigan City Light was the Christmas piece). My wife, Susan, and I went to the signing and met Bill and the Brady’s at Michigan City. Heather was not a happy camper as she had a weekend meeting she had been chosen to attend (and it wouldn’t have been a good thing to back out of). She expressed her frustration to her mother and I, and sometime that weekend we jokingly shared with Bill that fact that all of us were in trouble because we were spending time with him and Heather couldn’t.

I believe it was Monday morning when things got interesting. I was at work, Susan was at home and Heather was at our church minding the office for the day while the secretary was on vacation. Bill calls the home number (think that was all any of them could come up with at that point) and fortunately Susan was home to get the call. Well, he was on the road headed our way with the rep and wanted to meet Heather at the McDiner. She called Heather, told her to get ready and headed out the door to cover the office while Heather went to lunch. Of course, church is 10 miles away which added to the time line.

Heather got back into town and I met her and Bill and the rep at the McDiner. Bill made Heather order his lunch for him (no, it wasn’t a cheeseburger happy meal). After a nice lunch, Bill and the rep headed downtown with me to one of our local dealers. The shop owner recognized me and was somewhat floored when I introduced the owner of Harbour Lights. Bill headed over to sign all of the lights on display and had a nice chat with the dealer before heading back out on the road.

The really interesting footnote to this is that sometime later I was sharing the story with Kim and how much it meant to Heather for Bill to stop by to have lunch with her, especially at the McDiner. After I related the story she expressed great surprise. “What, that your dad stopped to have lunch with Heather?” She replied, “no, that he had her order his meal.” Kim told me that Bill never let someone else pick what he was to eat. Not even Nancy or Kim! So, not only had Heather enjoyed lunch with Bill at the last place you would expect to see Bill, she may well have been the only person to ever get to order his meal for him.

It's a shame that those collectors that started collecting after Bill sold the company may never get a chance to meet and talk with him. He was the "HEART" of Harbour Lights.

I've learned to never say never !!!

I don't have the kind of experiences the rest of you are sharing, but I do have one I would like to share.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, I had several grandchildren at my house. One of these is almost 5 and loves tiny little things - amazingly she takes care of them. I had given her a couple small lighthouse models (not Harbour Lights) over the past year or so and she still had them months later. So - I gave her a set of the Alaska thumbnails. They are now a highly prized possession. Well, on this particular weekend, an older grand daughter wanted to look for seahorses while at my house, so I started getting different lighthouses out. These two girls are searching diligently, for a couple hours until the table is covered with lighthouses and their parents had to leave. We had added more light, got out magnifying glasses and they just hunted and hunted. Sometimes they succeeded, more times not. Probably some of you are cringing...yes, they were picking them up and turning them around searching for the seahorses. The whole thing just made me smile. I have taken the older grand daughter lighthousing and will take the younger one soon. By the way, the youngest one's Christmas present this year is a Spyglass set of the Southern Belles.

Get them interested when they are small! That is my intent with my grand-nephew none of the other nieces/nephews or grands are interested. I took him to his first lighthouse in October - Old Point Comfort. Found an add on set for Thomas the Tank engine that included a lighthouse that sounds a foghorn and turns the light when a button is pushed and gave that to him last Christmas. He is receiving some lighthouse coloring books this year. I'm going to wait for him to get a little older before I give him any lights, he just turned three in Oct. He is all boy and isn't as careful with things yet to trust him with HLs or LLOMs.

All my favorite Harbour Lights experiences revolve time spend with Bill and Harry at store events in Denver and private functions with our Colorado Lighthouse club. We had the pleasure of hosting them at a couple of breakfast brunch gatherings as a part of local store event stops. The reunions and Dave trips are also high on the list of favortie things. I agree with everyone that Bill is the heart and soul of Harbour Lights and always will be. Without him, it has become just a business.

My best memory of my HL's experience was meeting all you Wacko's!

My fondest memories are with Bill and his fmily at The Lighthouse Festival's in Alpena, Mi Boy could this man take control of a room!! He would tell many different stories about his past experiences, and people would pipe in if he missed something. I also was with Bill at Door County, Wisconsin. We sat down at the same table having breakfast, and I talked to him about how Harbour Lights came to be. I was just fascinated listening to him tell me of his love for the lights as a young person, and all the drive it took to get the company up and going. Thank You Bill, and Nancy for all the happy moments you brought to me.

-All the reunions!
-Winning the Waugoshance "Mold Master" at the Mackinac reunion!

*Greatest disappointment; not being able to attend the last (Alaska) reunion.

Don Nieter