Up, Up and Away

Larry Stone Flies From Schools To Retirement

By MARCUS TONTI

The things people do for love - of a spouse, of a good job.
Or, in Larry Stone's case, both.

Mr. Stone retired this week after 28 years teaching in the Island
school system. What distinguishes the music instructor from other
teachers is that he actually lives across Vineyard Sound - and
then across Buzzards Bay - in Acushnet, next to New Bedford.

On Tuesday afternoon, the last day of school, Mr. Stone drove his
truck off the Island. But almost every other day for the last two
decades, he flew to and from the Island - on Cape Air, and before
that on Provincetown-Boston Airlines - using his truck on the
Vineyard side to drive from the airport and between schools.

While this commute may strike some as amazing, the veteran teacher
is remarkably blasé about it, describing his situation in
matter-of-fact tones: His wife, Cynthia, is a special needs teacher in
Acushnet, and this is the solution they came up with.

"That's what started it," he told the Gazette.
"We had a home, and the fact that neither one of us wanted to
leave our jobs made it important for one of us to commute. Being a
weekend spouse wouldn't have cut it.

"It was convenient for me to do it because of the
schedule," he said. "And that's a good feeling for
both of us; both of us enjoyed teaching where we were."

One day into retirement, Mr. Stone had no regrets.

"I was very, very lucky to have made the decision to stay on
the Vineyard all those 28 years rather than get a job stateside,"
he said. Had he started a new job elsewhere, he suggested, "I
would have been the least senior person, and probably the first to
go" as budget cuts over the years forced school music programs to
be pared.

"Even off-Island right now, you can see in today's
Standard-Times, the cutbacks are coming again like they did in the
mid-eighties," he added.

But Mr. Stone didn't have that kind of foresight, he admits;
he simply enjoyed teaching here.

"The Vineyard has always valued a well-rounded, quality
education," he said. "They have never hesitated to put in
the extra money so it would be a better education; the support from the
parents and taxpayers has been phenomenal."

Mr. Stone, a brass man, takes pains to praise his colleagues in the
music department, clarinetist Troy Tyson and flutist Ruth Chapman.

"I'm not a one-man band," he said - pun
intended. Mr. Stone is based at the Tisbury School but over the years
has also team-taught at the elementary schools in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs
and West Tisbury, and more recently at the regional high school.

Beginning music students generally start in the fourth grade.
"What I do basically is give them a valued and well-rounded
education, and they have music become a part of their life," he
said. "They can do as much or little with it as they want."

But still - how about that commute?

"You can't get bent out of shape because it's
foggy," the teacher said. Occasionally, inclement weather would
force Mr. Stone to take the ferry or even stay over with a friend.
"The spontaneity is not there," he said. "You have to
plan ahead."

Mr. Stone was able to reach a deal with Cape Air through which he
received a discount above and beyond ordinary commuter savings.
"It was a situation that benefited both parties," he said.
It was still expensive, he said, "But Cape Air was always there
for me.

"I was there for them," he added, "but they always
accommodated me."

Cape Air certainly appreciated its most frequent flyer on the New
Bedford-Vineyard route. On Monday, when Mr. Stone returned to the
mainland, airline president Dan Wolf was there to greet him. Mr. Stone
received gifts including a commemorative plaque from the ground crew, an
etched glass stein from the regional airport commission and - so
he can visit his old stomping grounds - a 10-flight commuter book.

Mr. Stone and another retiring colleague were also feted Tuesday
afternoon by their Vineyard peers at a faculty meeting. "They
presented Bob Holt and myself with a book of memories which has little
notes from teachers we worked with, students we taught, pictures of some
of the things we've done throughout the years," he said.

Mr. Stone also received a watercolor depicting the Tisbury School
building and pottery signed by all the faculty members.

Tisbury School has "a very loving and close faculty," he
said, "which is another reason why I'm leaving with mixed
emotions. I'm leaving some dear friends."

Fifty-five years old, Mr. Stone pointed out that he has been at
school for 50 years. He said he and Cynthia, who finishes her teaching
career next week, are looking forward to retirement and to being freed
from the strictures of the academic calendar.

While they were teaching, they had to schedule all their vacations
for the summer, he said. But now, "We can stay around this area
all summer long, which is a glorious place to be, then in the fall when
we're not working, we can fire up the motor home.

"We are traveling fools," he added. "We enjoy
going to Europe, we enjoy going cross-country. We've been all over
the place."

One place on their itinerary is eastern Europe, including Bulgaria
and St. Petersburg, Mr. Stone said. Another destination is the Balloon
Festival in Albuquerque, N.M.

"If we don't make it this year, we'll probably
make it next year," he said.

But still - how about that commute?

Mr. Stone is a realist. He again praises Vineyard schools, but
doesn't see himself as a model for other teachers who may be
beginning their careers.

"I can't think of a better place to start a
career," he said. "But, no, it's not the best way to
save money if you're a beginning teacher."