(Editor’s Note: The following is a series on the men and women who have spent their summers protecting all those who came to Ocean City for fun and safe vacation.)
Former Ocean City lifeguard Nan Keppeler today and back in the 1980s in Ocean City. Submitted Photos
OCEAN CITY — When Nan Keppeler (née Plato) joined the OCBP in 1982, it was still pretty much a boys club. Susie Kane had become the first female guard only 5 years earlier. And while the numbers had grown, seeing another woman on the patrol was something that did not happen every day. Some of the guys were not quite ready for the changes that were coming, but many welcomed her as a fellow guard into the “club”.
Still, as a member of the University of Maryland Swim team, Nan felt pretty confident that she could hold her own in the surf with just about anyone. That confidence was put to the test quickly as she began making real rescues in the ocean. Her first “pull” came on 42nd street when she had to go “get a guy who was struggling in a rip somewhat close to shore”. The rescue took a humorous turn when she was “swimming him in…stood up and realized we were only in about 4 feet of water.”
The humor extended to her life off the beach as well. “Our house was halfway between The Green Turtle and a big lifeguard house at the end of Jamestown Rd.” Those guards became fast friends with Nan, but “would always stop by and eat our dinner…so when we heard them coming, we would hide everything under the couch.”
The rescues and the fun would continue as Nan grew better at her
The OCBP taught Nan a lot about responsibility and love for the ocean. That love of the ocean led her out to California and the Pacific. It’s also probably why today she not only continues to compete in lifeguard competitions but also volunteers with the International Surf Lifesaving Association and travels to third world countries to train and certify locals to be lifeguards.