Al Theimer Sr. died at his home Oct. 22nd, 2015. Theimer was the last bridge tender of the Old Sunset Beach pontoon bridge.
The Old Bridge Preservation Society has a Junior Bridge Tenders Program that allows youth up to age 12 to learn about the history of the Old Sunset Beach pontoon bridge and keep “the memories of the bridge alive for the next youngest generation.” Upon completion of the program, each child received a Junior Bridge Tenders Program certificate personally signed by Al Theimer Sr. Al was a big part of the community keeping the Old Bridge Spirit alive in Sunset Beach.
Alan Theimer Jr. said his father died after an illness that lasted about six or seven months. He described his father as “a force to be reckoned with.When he walked into a room, he made it light up,” he said. “He was kind and polite to everybody. I’d bet my monthly paycheck that he doesn’t have an enemy in this world. He’d go out of his way for people.”
There were few things Theimer Sr. loved more than operating the old bridge. “It was the best job he’d ever had. That’s what he told me,” his son said. “It really connected him to the Sunset Beach community. It made him feel connected. He’s from up in the mountains (Surry County).” Karen Dombrowski of the Old Bridge Preservation Society called the old bridge Theimer’s “home away from home.”
In his seven years as a bridge tender, he never missed a day of work. “If you spend eight hours a day in a little house pretty much by yourself, just tending to the traffic, it was a very special place for Al,” she said. “After we opened the museum, the bridge tenders’ museum, we had Family Night during the summer for visitors and tourists. Al would come, sit in his chair … kick back and tell stories about his adventures opening and closing the bridge. He’d talk about wildlife he used to see, the water. He had so many great stories. He’d light up the room from the youngest child to the oldest person. They loved to hear him reminisce about the old bridge.”
At the end of 2010, the old Sunset Beach pontoon bridge was officially shut down to make way for a taller, more deluxe Intracoastal Waterway bridge that wouldn’t break down or tie up traffic at the most inopportune times. The half-century-old span had done its time and it, along with its six human operators, was finally retired.
Afterward, Sunset Beach community members created the Old Bridge Preservation Society, which salvaged the old bridge and had it moved in January 2011.
When the society was forming in 2011, Dombrowski and others went inside the bridge tender house while it was still in the water. “Al showed us how it operated,” she said. “He’d let us ride the bridge and we filmed all of the mechanics and the duties of the bridge tenders during the day. That is a film that we show at the bridge tenders museum at the old bridge.”
In August 2011, a Sunset Beach bridge tenders’ reunion took place at the Old Bridge’s new site. It was the first time the bridge tenders had gotten together since it shut down and it was a day Theimer said he especially enjoyed.
Surviving him are his wife, son, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Dombrowski said the society will continue the Junior Bridge Tender program and encourages people to share their memories and photos of the old bridge, including on the Old Bridge Preservation Society Facebook page and its website www.oldbridgepreservationsociety.org.
This Story was first reported by the Brunswick Beacon.
