Prior to her death from cancer in 2001, author Mary Daubenspeck lived through several profoundly "moving" experiences, including the relocation of the Nauset Lighthouse in 1996 and later of her private, personally owned and much-beloved Keeper's House in 1998. As a talented writer and author, she conscientiously maintained a regular real-time journal, which together with her frequent contributions to the Keeper's House Logbook, comprise a captivating and vital record of these two historic events not previously documented from the standpoint of an intimately involved eyewitness.
Mary's extraordinary role in determining the ultimate fate of the Nauset Light Keeper's House, and the legacy she left for Cape Cod and its people through the selfless donation of her most cherished possession, is recounted by her co-author and brother Tim Daubenspeck, who was lovingly recruited by Mary to take the reins and manage the property through the term of the Daubenspeck Family's temporary private dwelling "use permit" extending to 2024.