About us

Rita Hutton is 86 and  the founder of the Virginia Watermens Memorial. Her

son Michael J. Hutton perished when the Clam Dredge Mae Doris Sank Oct. 

29, 1992.Rita spent a lot of )me in Washington, DC pe))oning and lobbying

for safer +shing regula)ons for commercial +shing vessels. Rita’s son 

Michael’s name is listed on  New Jerseys Watermens Memorial at Cape 

May. In late 2000 Rita founded the Virginia Watermens Memorial which is 

now started on Cape Charles, VA’s harbor in front of the Shanty Resturant.

John Crumb 87 , Vice Pres., served in the U. S. Army 1951-1953 durning the 

Korean War.  John became a Virginia State Game Warden in 1957 and 

retired as the area leader in 1991. John’s area was from N.C. state line to 

Md. State line and as far west as Hampton, VA.  John’s area covered the 

en)re Virginias Atlantic Coast and barrier islands. He is very familiar with 

incidents where watermen have been lost plying their trade on the Atlantic 

Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay.  He was the area leader for 20 yrs.

Ed Kuhn, 77, Treasure, is retired waterfront constructon company owner 

from N.J. He presently works for Northampton Co. on the Eastern Shore and is also very familiar with waterman being lost in NJ and in Virginia.

Debbie Outten, Secretary , an Eastern Shore native, has been in the Cape 

Charles area all her life. She is also very familiar with working waterman 

traga)e

Ed Lewis President, 70, is a native Eastern Shoreman, who spent 2 years in the U.S. Army in 1966-1968, became a Chesapeake VA. police officer in 1969  and retired in Jan. 94. He founded the Chesapeake Police Dive Team in 1973.  Ed was promoted to Sergeant in 1976 and headed the dive team until leaving the department. In May 1993, a?er hearing of Rita Huttons grief over loosing her son and having nightmares of his body being on the Mae Doris, lying on the bottom 180’ down and 40 miles east of Cape May, NJ in the Atlantic Ocean, Ed organized a team, not from the police dept. aquired donations and a dive boat to travel to the Mae Doris and search and hope to recover Michael and the other three watermens remains and bring them back for loved ones.  No remains were found but the bronze 

plaque with all their names was attached to the hull by Ed. Ed and Rita became friends and Ed was voted President of the Friends of the Virginia Waterman’s Memorial in 2001.

Nelson Thompson, a Portsmouth, VA monument builder, is not on the board of directors, but has attended the majority of the meetings and acted as the advisor on the different aspects of how to build and design the monument. He has helped greatly in designing the monument we are constructing.