Capt. Paul X. Rinn, USN (Ret.), who now is a motivational speaker, was the guest of Rosemary Ward of Whitehall, owner of Training Direct, LLC. They had their picture taken by The World’s Largest Weathervane in downtown Montague.

The following was one of those stories.

In February, 2012, the White Lake area had a distinguished visitor who was invited to the area by Whitehall resident Rosemary Ward, MA, DTM, CSP, owner of Training Direct.

Her guest was naval hero Cap. Paul X. Rinn, USN (Ret.). Ward and Capt. Rinn are motivational speakers and tour nationally. They met each other at a public speaking retreat in Colorado. Last February he was one his way to a speaking engagement for Farm Bureau in Traverse City when he stopped in the White Lake area.

Capt. Rinn is a highly decorated Naval officer, and is famous for saving his guided missile frigate Samuel B. Roberts from sinking in the Persian Gulf after a naval mine ripped a massive hole in the ship’s hull. Sea water flooded in, super hot gases ignited fires on four decks and Capt. Rinn said the ship was sinking under the weight of the water used to fight the fires.