Natchez &8212; The beauty and history of the Natchez City Cemetery surpass any other burial ground he has seen, the newly appointed Director Mike Downey said.

&8220;It&8217;s not like any cemetery I&8217;ve seen anywhere in the world,&8221; Downey said, sitting in the small shelter house while taking a break from working on the grounds Tuesday.

On Jan. 1, Downey formally replaces Don Estes as cemetery director. Estes will remain a cemetery employee, working part time and giving regularly scheduled tours.

Members of the Cemetery Association are thrilled, said President Sarabeth Rountree.

&8220;We think Mike and Don will have a good partnership,&8221; she said. &8220;We are happy to have both of them working for the cemetery now.&8221;

After a long career in the U.S. Coast Guard, Downey was nearing retirement when he received the phone call from Estes asking him to come to the cemetery and take a look at the work that goes on there.

&8220;I spent a couple of days with him,&8221; Downey said. &8220;I enjoy being outside and taking care of things.&8221;

He and Estes know each other through First Baptist Church, where Estes and his family are members and Downey and his wife, Kim, also are members and attend with their two sons, Bailey, 10, and Ryley, 8.

His 30 years in the Coast Guard were spent helping people. That part of the cemetery job also will be a pleasure for him, Downey said.

&8220;In the Coast Guard, our mission is to save lives. We solely serve the American citizen,&8221; he said.

At 17, he joined the Coast Guard. During the summer before his senior year in high school, he completed basic training and went back to complete his high school degree.

&8220;I went right back to the Coast Guard. They made me a diver,&8221; he said. &8220;I was the first one in the water when Flight 90 went down in 1982.&8221; He referred to the jet that crashed into the Potomoc River near Washington, D.C.

The son of an Army colonel, Downey spent his childhood traveling place to place, &8220;coast to coast and to Europe.&8221; Traveling with the Coast Guard was a natural, and he spent time in the South Pacific and Alaska before his assignment to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He reached the highest enlisted rank of Master Chief.

He is a Bostonian and his wife, a native of Alaska. &8220;People ask how in the world someone from Boston and someone from Alaska ended up in Natchez,&8221; he said.

It was in Gulfport that they began to fall in love with Mississippi. &8220;We were stationed there for three years. We love the people and the Southern way of life.&8221;

From Gulfport, Downey was sent to Natchez to take command of the Greenbriar, the Coast Guard boat then stationed at Natchez.

&8220;I spent four years on the Greenbriar, taking care of the river from the bridge south to Mile 155 and also the Red River and the Atchafalaya,&8221; he said. &8220;I think I&8217;m one of the only Coast Guard pilots who can say he has navigated from the mouth of the river to St. Louis.&8221;

For the past three years, he has been stationed at Greenville on the Coast Guard cutter Patoka. His family remained in Natchez.

They bought a house about four years ago, and he and Kim are active with Cub Scouts, serving as master and assistant master of Pack 168.

Upon retirement, numerous job offers came his way, Downey said. Most of them were on the river and would have required travel.

&8220;My wife said no to those,&8221; he said. &8220;She told me &8216;you will be home every night.&8217;&8221;

His retirement complete, he now has a job he thinks will challenge him and fulfill his interests.

Estes will continue several projects &8212; the tours, completing a computerized catalog of burial records and lot ownership and writing a book, &8220;Secrets of the Natchez City Cemetery.&8221;

&8220;I&8217;ll be available for anything else they need me for,&8221; he said. &8220;Mike and I work well together.&8221;