[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 86 (Friday, May 17, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING CAPTAIN TOM CRAMBLETT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EARL BLUMENAUER

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 17, 2024

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr Speaker, today I rise to celebrate Captain Tom 
Cramblett for his 41 years of service on the Columbia Gorge 
Sternwheeler and designate May 30th as Captain Tom Day in Cascade 
Locks.
  Tom has been part of the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler community from 
the beginning. As a young man, Tom first saw the Sternwheeler as she 
was being constructed by the Nichols Brothers in Hood River. He was 
aboard on her maiden voyage in 1983, serving as a deckhand. Before 
long, Tom was promoted to engineer and within a couple years became 
captain.
  With Captain Tom at the tiller, generations of guests have delighted 
at the Columbia River Gorge from the deck of the Sternwheeler, learning 
about the Gorge's history from Captain Tom.
  Tom's understanding of the region is steeped in his reverence for its 
history and its people. A noted expert on the Lewis and Clark 
Expedition, Tom addressed a room full of historians at the Corps of 
Discovery's 200-year anniversary celebration as it passed through 
Cascade Locks in 2004.
  Tom's own family history stretches back five generations in Cascade 
Locks. His great-grandfather operated a wood scow, supplying 
sternwheelers with fuelwood cut from local forests.
  Earlier this year, Captain Tom and his crewmember George valiantly 
saved the Sternwheeler after it broke from its moorings during a winter 
storm. They boarded the ship from a footbridge over the old locks where 
the boat had drifted and become lodged. Facing almost certain 
destruction, Tom piloted the ship away from hazard and downriver 
through the wind and roiling swell to safety below the Bonneville 
Locks.
  Broader than the Sternwheeler, Tom's commitment to the town of 
Cascade Locks is legendary. A man of many hats, Tom served as town 
mayor for eight years, coached youth sports, led the Boy Scouts, acted 
as the town's Santa Claus, and volunteered at the Columbia Gorge 
Interpretive Center Museum.
  Tom and his wife Brenda married in 1982, and have two sons, Jared and 
Scott, who are both in the National Guard. Scott has his captain's 
license and serves as engineer on the Portland Spirit.
  Tom has also trained a number of captains now operating on the 
Columbia River, and currently works part time on the Port of Cascade 
Locks' maintenance crew, working to keep Marine Park beautiful and 
available to the public.
  A true living legend, we designate May 30th as Captain Tom Day, in 
light of his contributions and decades of service to the Cascade Locks 
community.

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