On
April 9, 1947, Captain R. F. Luce,
Chief, Division of Personnel and Accounts, retired after
40 years service with the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Captain Luce was born in Melrose, Massachusetts
and received his education at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University.
He entered the Survey on July 28, 1906, and his first assignment
was aboard the BACHE off the Atlantic Coast. He was later commanding
officer of this same ship, as well as the ISIS, MATCHLESS, MIKAWE,
and HYDROGRAPHER on the Atlantic Coast; the ROMBLON in the Philippines,
and the LYDONIA and GUIDE on the Pacific Coast.
During World War I he was transferred to the
Navy and was assigned as Navigator to the MADAWASKA. He was
Director of Coast Surveys in Manilla from June 30, 1932 to July
1934. Captain Luce also served as Chief of the Section of Tides
and Currents, when it was under the Division of Hydrography
and Topography, Inspector of our Boston Field Station, and Assistant
Chief of the Division of Coastal Surveys. He became chief of
the Division of Personnel and Accounts, on August 16, 1938,
which position he held until his retirement.
Captain Luce has always taken an active part
in Bureau activities, and his contributions to the Buzzard have
been regular and constant--in fact, he's the "Ghost" on whom
the bowling teams have relied for foretelling the winning games.
His prognostications have come true in a great majority of cases,
and if this same knowledge were applicable to picking the winners
in the "daily doubles" his fortune would be a sizeable one.
At present, Captain Luce plans to remain in
Washington until his son graduates from school. Afterwards,
he has the world to choose from. The bureau will miss his genial
personality and hearty laugh, and his willingness to cooperate,
whether it be the Community Chest drive, a campaign for dolls,
or a new idea for the Buzzard.
Captain Robert F. Luce, 84, died from a heart
attack on February 5, 1969. He was Chief of the division of
Personnel and Accounts for several years before he retired in
1946, and was recalled to active duty in that post until August
1947.
A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Yale
University, Captain Luce entered the Survey in 1906 as an aid,
and was one of the original officers commissioned in 1917. He
was transferred to the Navy and was navigating officer on the
U.S.S. MADAWASKA in the Atlantic until early in 1919. He served
for many years before and after World War I on Coast and Geodetic
Survey ships and commanded the ROMBLON, BACHE, ISIS, MATCHLESS,
LYDONIA, GUIDE, PIONEER, and HYDROGRAPHER. He was director of
Coast Surveys in the Philippines in 1932-1934, and assistant
chief of the division of Hydrography and Topography at Coast
and Geodetic Survey's headquarters in 1936-1938.
Survivors include Mrs. Luce and son, Robert
J. Luce.
THE BUZZARD, 5/24/1947
ESSA CORPS BULLETIN, 3/1/1969
