About Us
Wizardzworx is a Veteran owned, small business in Southwest Virginia. Our goal is to generate smiles with an eclectic collection of curiosities and collectibles. We are currently offering The Wizardzworx Lighthouse Collection. This collection is a salute to the brave men and women of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, including our founder’s grandfather, RADM Norman C. Manyon, USCG (Ret). The lighthouses are designed, 3D printed, individually hand-painted, and assembled in the heart of the Blue Ridge mountains in Floyd County, Virginia. The lamp lens, acrylic stopper rod, silicon stopper seal, and electrical wiring are globally sourced.
Twice A Hero
These are my best efforts to record what I was told as a child, growing up. Any errors are unintentional.
Our link to lighthouses is through my grandfather. Norman Cyril Manyon, the son of English and Irish immigrant parents. As a young man, he had fallen in love with the Sea. In an age when birth certificates were not not necessarily common but honesty was, he wrote “17” on a piece of paper and stuck it in his shoe. When the US Navy recruiter asked how old he was, he stated that he was “Over 17’. After an enlistment in the US Navy, he attended City College of New York. After graduation, he entered the US Light House Service.
While serving as the 2d Officer of the Light House Tender, Orchid, he distinguished himself in the rescue of the Cape Charles lightship, in 1914, during a hurricane. The lightship had broken her anchor cables and, with her engine failed, was drifting toward the breakers at Virginia Beach. After repeated, unsuccessful attempts to shoot a line over to the lightship, my grandfather and two sailors rowed a line over to the lightship, allowing a suitable tow cable to be attached. The Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark, Wednesday, December 9, 1914 article states “…their trip was successful, but not until they had come perilously near going under…”
Prior to W.W.II, Commander (?) Manyon again distinguished himself during a hurricane in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A US Coast Guard cutter had run aground and was in danger of foundering at the entrance to Roosevelt Roads. Captain Manyon took a buoy tender out to the sinking cutter. He skillfully maneuvered the smaller, buoy tender stern-first to the cutter. The cutter’s crew members were able to cross over into the stern of the tender. He made several trips, and rescued the entire crew.
For these two rescues, he was awarded Gold Life Saving medals, by the US Department of Commerce.
During WW II, Captain Manyon served as the Aides to Navigation Officer, responsible for all coastal lights, bouys, and lighthouses from Chesapeake Bay to Key West, FL. He often went out on US Navy blimps, lighter-than-air ships, as an extra set of eyes during anti-submarine patrols searching for German U-boats.