Light Duty : After 50 Years at Beacon Mission, Director Gene McCann Is Going to Take It a Little Easier

For half a century Gene McCann has counseled and consoled homeless, jobless and wayward men who were down on their luck and wandered into the Beacon Light Mission in Wilmington for some soup, soap and salvation.

But today the man who has been saving souls since the end of World War II will step down as director of the harbor-area rescue mission, founded in 1903 on a tugboat moored on the east side of San Pedro Bay to give seamen some hope. McCann, 73, recently suffered a slight stroke and has decided that it’s time to retire.

“Fifty years is a long time,” he said. “I figure it’s time for someone new to come in and I’m sure they will come in and do just as good a job.”

McCann dedicated his life to service after a brush with death. It was Dec. 23, 1943, and he had just moved to San Pedro from Arkansas because there were plenty of jobs in the shipyard--and he was curious to see what a ship looked like.

He was taking his first trip to Hollywood when a car pulled in front of his motorcycle, leaving him no time to stop. The crash put him in the hospital deaf in one ear, with a broken jaw, a wrecked leg and four teeth missing.

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“I remember saying, “Lord, if you let me live, I promise to serve you,” McCann said. “The next morning I was still alive.”

McCann has kept his promise. He began working at the nondenominational mission as a cook in 1946, serving beef stew, beans and “the word of God.” By then the mission was located on Beacon Street, on a strip near the Los Angeles Harbor where there were 28 bars. The mission had been successful at sea and was moved to land to expand, and moved again to its current location in 1972 when displaced by an urban renewal project.

In 1964, McCann became the director. He recalls beating out four ministers, all of whom had college degrees, for the position. “I told them I had a B.A. too--B.A meaning born again,” he said. “I had a lot of experience and you can’t beat that.”

Indeed, McCann had spent almost 20 years at the mission, which is financially supported by more than 30 harbor-area churches, lending a helping hand to those who needed a way to lift themselves up.

Evidence of his success remains at the mission, which accommodates 21 men, referring women and families to shelters, and serves two hot meals a day to anyone who is hungry.

Bruce Beecraft is testimony to McCann’s work. Eleven years ago, he had gone bankrupt and was sleeping under a car in a vacant lot next to the mission. Beecraft, now 56, was eating his meals at Beacon Light when McCann asked him if he knew how to cook. Soon McCann gave him a job as cook and bookkeeper.

“He got me back on my feet again,” said Beecraft, who lives at the mission. “Gene is the pillar of this place and soon he’ll be gone and we will all be standing around trying to keep the foundation from falling.”

Mark Csardino concurs. Five years ago, when his welfare benefits were cut off and he was fighting a drug and alcohol problem, McCann took him in.

Guests are given seven days to find work and can receive a three-day extension, but at the end of that period, Csardino says, he hadn’t found any work. He said he had found God, so he asked if he could stay, and has since worked as a handyman.

“The mission saved my life,” said Csardino, 32, who grew up in Carson. “I was on my way to the street and Gene kept me from falling down.”

McCann’s wife, Wanda, who often volunteers at the mission, said many people criticize the mission as a crutch that holds the wayward up for a few days, until they go off to another shelter. But someday, she hopes, the mission’s religious lessons will sink in.

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That is part of the challenge of rescue work, said Janet Teuerle, who founded the Long Beach Rescue Mission in 1971 with her husband, Wayne.

Teuerle has worked with McCann since the 1960s and often took in women and families referred by McCann.

The Teuerles, who retired from the Long Beach mission in January, said McCann always seemed to have a surplus of baked goods to send over to the neighboring ministry.

“He is such a giving man,” Teuerle said. “He has a great heart for rescue work.”

Finding a new director will be a tough job for the board of directors; after all, they don’t have much experience looking for directors, given McCann’s long tenure. Board President James Van Leersum will step in as acting director until a replacement can be found.

McCann says he will still counsel mission visitors, but also plans trips to Maine and Hawaii.

“I’ll miss this place, but I’ll still be around,” McCann said. “It’s been a part of me for so long.”