Bemis retiring after 30 years at Carlsbad Caverns N.P. By Valerie Cranston Current-Argus Staff Writer Posted: 08/01/2009 09:17:09 PM MDT CARLSBAD — Tom "Boomer" Bemis is retiring from the Carlsbad Caverns National Park while he's still having fun. His retirement roasting party is set for 6 p.m. today at the Stevens Inn and his last full day of work is Monday. Bemis, a.k.a. "The Legend," has spent 30 years working for the National Parks Service at the caverns. He worked a decade in interpretation, a decade in maintenance and another decade in resource management. "I figured I better leave now - next would be administration or protection and they would never issue me a gun," Bemis said. "I'm thinking the roasting will probably turn into a cremation," he added, noting there will be no mercy shown him from those attending. When he started out at the caverns, those he worked with began calling him Bemis. That quickly evolved into Beemer and before he knew it he was dubbed Boomer. "If my phone rang and someone asked for Boomer, I knew it was pretty much work-related because no one in town calls me that," he said. "The Legend" reference came about before he began working for the NPS. He worked on and off for five years for Cavern Supply at the Caverns. It was 1976 when Ron Kerbo was reworking the lighting in the cave. Kerbo got wind that Bemis was a caver so he got him to wriggle his small frame in a tiny crevice to help with the lighting. "That's how it started and I've done enough crazy things over the years that it stuck," Bemis said, adding that one of those crazy things was whitewater rafting down a flooded Walnut Canyon with Kerbo just for fun. Bemis had been on the job about a month when, in July 1979, gunmen took over the underground lunchroom and took hostages. Bemis had not been there long enough for his uniforms to come in or the gunmen would have taken him also, he explained. He remembers elevator operator Cecilia Valdez and seasonal ranger Linda Phillips were taken as hostages. The gunmen demanded to talk to the newspaper, so publisher Ned Cantwell went underground to the lunchroom to interview the gunmen per their request. The standoff lasted some 3 to 4 hours. "After it was over, they found out I was a photographer, and I ended up taking photographs of evidence for the FBI," Bemis said. The best part of his decade working in interpretation was dealing with the public. After all, who wouldn't like standing around visiting with people, talking about the cave and getting paid for it, he said. His decade in maintenance was a bit more challenging. When they realized he knew electronics, he was assigned to maintain the radio system in the cave after the company who installed it went bankrupt. He maintained it and then replaced it with other systems over the years. "I designed the surface repeater system and then designed an underground repeater system that sat around for a decade before it was put into use," Bemis said. The decade spent in resource management was right up his alley and coincided with what he loved and began doing 39 years ago - caving. "That's what I went there for and I waited 20 years to do it. I was doing what I loved and paying back to the cave," he said. "I finally ended up in a job to oversee some correcting of damage that had been done to the cave." The cave has been host to visitors for more than 100 years. A light bulb in the cave can't even be changed with out getting off the trail. Each time an employee gets off trail, a little more damage is done, he explained. Bemis was in charge of 12 caves, all of which are open to the public with stipulations. In addition to the caverns, he's been responsible for Spider and Slaughter Canyon Cave and nine other recreational caves. Eight of those caves require permits to enter. The ninth is Ogle, a vertical cave that not only requires a permit but also the company of a park employee. Bemis also served as search and rescue coordinator for the park. Although there was not a great deal of search and rescue at the park through the years, it took a lot of time and work to maintain a viable team for when they were needed. "My first rescue was back in college. It was a good friend of mine who had long hair and was hanging literally by his hair from a rope about 50-60 feet off the ground," Bemis said, adding this friend, who lives in Carlsbad, is now a member of search and rescue and shall remain nameless for now. Bemis, 55, is only retiring from the Caverns. His next job is adjunct instructor teaching search and rescue at the Permian Basin Regional Training Center. The job will start out as part-time but will more than likely work into a full time job. "I'll be developing bridges between the parks, city, county, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management," Bemis said, adding that any other interested entity can join the search and rescue bridge building. Bemis needed to retire because he's so busy. He's responsible for the New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue district that encompasses Eddy, Lea and parts of Otero and Chaves counties. At the present he's area commander, who oversees all the missions in New Mexico with the state police search and rescue. "As area commander, I'm coordinating with the Air Force Civil Air Patrol," he said. "I coordinate anything with air rescue and often have to make some nasty judgment calls as to which mission gets that resource." He and his wife Mannie were both born and raised in Carlsbad. He never had a desire or wanted to leave the area and she was in perfect agreement. "This area has some of the best caves in the world - why would you want to leave?" he said. Bemis will miss coworkers and the cave itself but he feels the job he's been doing for the last decade is a young person's job. "I'm not going to miss that commute," Bemis said. "I've driven the equivalent to the moon and back on that highway. That's about half a million miles." "It's been a fun 30 years out there. Part of me hates to leave and part of me thinks it's nice to leave. For the most part - it's all been for the better," he added. "When you become Mr. Bemis and a legend - it's time to go," he said. w.currentargus.com/ci_12976065
