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Hi, my name is Michelle B. My father Rodney Main was a commercial fisherman most of my life. He has fished up & down the oregon coast, california coast & in Alaska. He was lost in 1988 in the Bering Sea. My father was the Captain of the fishing vessel The Golden Venture. His crew was rescued and all survived, in large due to his efforts to stay onboard and get off the maydays. My mother, brother & myself miss my dad terribly! He was a great man, who loved his career choice. We grew up on the boats and learned to respect the ocean and those who fished it. The longer my father was in the industry the more polictical it seemed to become, but in the long run, the fisherman & their families were all a part of a much bigger "family". Anyone who grows up in this profession knows that they depend on eachother for their livelyhood and survival. My dad was very good at his job and took pride in it. He loved it! When Michelle said its salt in the blood, she was so on the money. It is a part of who they and we are! You know the dangers involved, but there is such a strong draw to the ocean that it can't be denied. I am proud to be a "Fishermans Daughter". I grew up in Newport, Oregon, playing on the boats & in the fisheries. My family & friends have displayed our fathers name at the Fishermans memorial in Yaquina Bay Park Newport, Or.. It gives us great joy to have somewhere to go and pay our respects to him and others we have known and loved and lost. It gives us some sence of comfort to know that even though we have lost him, he went to heaven doing what he loved to do. He always said that being on the ocean at daybreak was the closest he ever could feel to God, and marveled in what he had created. To this day, 20 years later, the smells of the waterfront & ocean takes us back and it is an undescrible feeling, but somehow you feel like you're at home and at peace. Thank you Michelle for sharing your time with all of us. God Bless you & your family from my family.

posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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