I've know Capt. Trone for almost all my life. I was 5 when I met him and he gave me my first job that year, working in the concession stand on the Julia Belle Swain. There were other duties, mainly bringing him coffee with 3 sugars up all those stairs to the pilot house. I never spilled a drop! My mom helped paint all those decks of the JBS and City of Baton Rouge. She would stand in the dinghy on the Illinois and paint the hulls! She was also a jack-of-all-trades, as was everyone. My dad got his pilot's license on the JBS.
The trip we took to Chattanooga one fall is something we will never forget, and it wasn't just because we got out of school for 2 weeks!
My brother, John Vaughn, and I took Capt. Trone to our school for show-and-tell! I was so proud to have him in my classroom.
There are so many memories; breakfast at Bishop's, reveille reveille wakey wakey, his laugh, that big great dane Goney, learning to love the river as much as he did, the smell of diesel early in the morning, and so many more.
I will miss you, Captain Trone.

Jennifer Vaughn-Eshelman