GLOUCESTER: On April 1, 2008, Stanley N. Dulong, Master Rigger, 89, was unharnessed from a body that could no longer serve him, after suffering from a stroke several weeks earlier. He had been a robust man enjoying the company of his wife, family and many friends. He was the husband of Janet C. (Purdy) Dulong.
Born in Lynn on February 15, 1919, he was the son of the late Norman and Winifred (Amirault) Dulong of Gloucester and Nova Scotia. He was the first of 10 children. He moved to Gloucester with his family when he was 1 year old.
When Stan was 10 years old, he began accompanying his father on summer fishing trips on the Essex built schooner Grand Marshall. As a young teen, Stan worked for the Civilian Conservation Corp, one of Roosevelt’s programs. He was sent to Northampton to help clean up after the floods on the Connecticut River.
He began working on boats in 1938 at the Burnham Boat Railways, now the site of the Gloucester Marine Heritage Center. During World War II, he worked at the Portsmouth Naval Yard. Later he went to Pearl Harbor to work on naval vessels.
After serving as a Paratrooper in the 82nd Army Airborne in World War II, he returned to Gloucester to resume his trade. At that point, longtime Gloucester rigger Harry Christianson turned his rigging business over to Stan. Among his regular clients was Capt Ben Pine. Captain Pine had 4 or 5 boats at the time. Stan also rigged all the Gorton boats.
At this time Irving Johnson’s world traveling brigantine “Yankee” called Gloucester her homeport. Irving Johnson corresponded with Stan by mail as to what he wanted Stan to do to the “Yankee” when she arrived in Gloucester after her 18 month cruises.
In the sixties, when rigging fishing boats became a job for hydraulic presses and not done by hand, Stan became a contractor working on homes. He kept his hand in rigging at this time by hanging baseball cages and netting in college field houses all across the Northeast. Later in life, Stan returned to rigging boats the traditional way. In the 90’s, rigging the Boston Tea Party boat, the “Beaver” and Schooners- the Boston pilot “Pilot” and Gloucester’s “Thomas E. Lannon.”
In his eighties, Stan worked at the Essex Ship Building Museum teaching classes and rigging the “Fame” and the “Isabella.” Stan was also quite an artist carving schooners under full sail from a single block of wood. These little vessels were as big as 12 inches down the size of quarter. Many are in private collections.
In addition to his wife of 65 years, he is survived by his daughters, Penny Sinclair and her husband, Frank of Gloucester and Florida, Jayne Dulong of Gloucester, Paige Parisi and her husband, Joe of Naples FL, Lee Sylva and her husband, Mike of Cat Island, the Bahamas; his son Craig Dulong and his wife, “Sash” Ludwig of Gloucester, 3 grandchildren, Holly Wieckowski and her husband, Steve, Kristin Murray and her husband, Matt, and Ben Dulong, and 2 great-grandchildren, all of Gloucester. He is also survived by six sisters; May Hobbs of Hawthorne, CA, Wendy Hobson of Sarasota, FL, Priscilla Cahoon of Hawthorne, CA, Margaret Bailey and her husband Walter of Torrance, CA, Lynn Poole and her husband, John of Pasadena, CA, Janis Plant and her husband, Roger of Henderson, NV a sister-in-law, Edith Purdy, and numerous nephews and nieces. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by three brothers, Norman of Gloucester, Fred of Eugene, OR, and Ralph Dulong of Redding, CA.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, June 21st at 3 p.m. at the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center where Stan spent much of his life working on fishing and sailing vessels. Donations may be made to the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center, 9 Harbor Loop, Gloucester, MA 01930, for the Stanley N. Dulong Memorial, a permanent ship rigging exhibition including his bench and tools.