Who Is Max LeFevre? A Member Profile

How do you go from running a family restaurant to running a nuclear power plant?  Very slowly, with years of training and experience in between.  It’s the story of Max’s life before we knew him in the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

First there was the family business, a restaurant, bar and nightclub called the White Sparrow in Vineland, New Jersey, where Max grew up.  In the war years, when he was a kid, it attracted servicemen from the military base at nearby Millville. He dogged his father’s footsteps to learn the business inside out. 

Then came the Navy from 1957 to 1963, and back to help his ailing father and to take over the restaurant he loved.  He was sixteen years in the restaurant business, and when it finally ended he was devastated. Married to Camille and the father of two children, he was out of work for a year and a half.  He found a low-level job at the Public Service Electric and Gas nuclear power plant in Salem, N.J. and turned it into an amazing 22-year career. .

By the time he retired, Max had trained, studied and held every vital position in the Salem plant.  He had turned the dials that controlled the high-pressure generators; he had lifted the rods, he had supervised the disposal of radioactive equipment, and he had worked twelve-hour shifts as a normal day.  He helped to build and operate two other nuclear power plants in the area, and he eventually became a co-owner representative for PSE&G.



Max with John Marshall



 Fast forward to Naples in 2004. He was taking the navigation course offered by Flotilla 96 in preparation for a daring trip with his brother from Seattle up through Canada and Glacier Bay on a 24-foot Alaskan Sea Sport.  His instructor, John Marshall, spotted him as a valuable recruit for the Auxiliary and soon signed him up.

 

So what did we get for John Marshall’s effort?  Max has held nine flotilla offices, including vice commander under John Tyson and later commander.  He holds seven certifications, including coxswain, vessel examiner, instructor and watchstander.  He has received seven awards, including one for 42 new flotilla members in the years when he held the Personnel Services office.  He set up the flotilla’s first website.  Today he is staff officer for Human Resources with Division Nine. He has a total of almost 5,000 mission hours.



Phill Smith with Max

 Max says one of the things he most enjoyed in the Auxiliary was competing as a team with other Flotilla 96 crew members in the Operational Excellence program.   The competition, which has since been discontinued, pitted teams from one flotilla against another in performing crucial tasks aboard their vessels.  The Ops Excellence program still survives, Max says, but without the excitement he remembers sharing with John Tyson, Phill Smith and Larry Bowers in the heat of competition. 

After retirement Max travelled extensively in the United States, Puerto Rico, Europe and Africa, once scaling a live volcano in Douala Cameroon to take photos.

At home Max is the ultimate handyman, able to tackle repairs or renovations with ease.  Best of all, he has become a serious craftsman in stained glass, a hobby he has enjoyed since his days living in Sea Isle, NJ.  His work ranges from small gifts to major projects, including a panel 25 feet long and five feet high that still adorns a home in Sea Isle.

He remains an active boater and coxswain, frequently launching his 17-foot Mia Barca at the Wiggins Pass boat ramp.  He welcomes all qualified crewmembers  to share his patrols.  If you know him, you probably know he was aptly named.  He’s no less than the Max of Flotilla 96.