How a Fall From a Roof Inspired Me to Lead SALTS

By Loren Hagerty, Executive Director since 2006

When I was about eight-years-old, our next-door neighbor Mr. Schulz was working on his roof when he slipped and fell two stories onto the backyard lawn and shattered one of his legs. He narrowly missed the concrete patio and was told it could have been far worse. He spent several months immobilized, and to pass the time he built an intricate model of a tall ship. The lines were made of sewing thread and the knots were so tiny they must have been tied with tweezers. When he was able to walk again, he decided not to keep his beautiful ship model, I presume because it reminded him of his suffering. So, he gave it to the little boy next door— me.

Mr. Shulz lived on into old age, and I grew up fascinated by sailboats. The miniature cannons on the model ship fired my imagination, and I treasured it. At the age of ten I had a chance to sail for the first time (on a Hobie 16, which

“A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle."

Father james keller

was wonderful except for the lack of cannons). I wonder: would I be leading SALTS today if not for my neighbor’s momentary imbalance on the roof? We’ll never know. But a friendly neighbor introduced me to sailing ships, and that reminds me how easily a young person’s life can be influenced and inspired. Mr. Schulz was just one of a long line of influencers who guided me to where I am. It is hard to change an adult, but not hard to alter the course of history in a young person’s life (for good or evil). What keeps me at SALTS—and loving this job—is not that we introduce young people to tall ships. It’s that we’re here to inspire them towards goodness: faith, hope, and love (and the greatest of these is love). That our platform for doing so is tall ships still fires my passion and imagination.