Everette Hoard, the Queen Mary’s commodore who worked aboard the iconic Long Beach ship for more than 40 years, has died, according to an announcement from the ship’s management.
As commodore, Hoard’s duties included writing the tours, mentoring the tour guides and even marrying hundreds of couples aboard the ocean liner permanently moored in Queensway Bay. He was an expert on the ship, even traveling to the Cunard archives at the University of Liverpool to deepen his research.
“Everette was the living embodiment of the Queen Mary’s spirit,” Steve Caloca, managing director of the Queen Mary, said in a statement. “His love for this ship, its legacy, and every person who stepped aboard was unmatched.”
Hoard’s first memories of the Queen Mary were as a child, when he would sit on his father’s lap and watch him draw pictures of ships, he told the Long Beach Post in 2023.
Hoard’s father, who had served in the Navy, “drew [ships] with two smokestacks and sometimes three,” Hoard said. “When it was three stacks it was the Queen Mary. If it was two it would be the Queen Elizabeth.”
“I was always in love with ships,” Hoard said.
He moved from Alabama to Long Beach in 1982. A short time later, he landed a job in the toy and hobby store aboard the Queen Mary.
He eventually worked his way up to retail director and in 2010 was asked by the managing director to become one of the ship’s officers.
“It was a dream come true for me,” Hoard said of the promotion.
The ship’s management has created a webpage honoring Hoard and inviting the public to share a message or a memory.
“We have not only lost a family member — we’ve lost a legend who will live on in our hearts and our souls,” Caloca said.
His cause of death and age weren’t immediately available.
Learn more about Hoard in our 2023 interview with him.