George Manter, Police Chief for 26 Years, Filled Up the Doorways of
West Tisbury

George Whitten Manter, a native son of West Tisbury who served his
nation as a soldier in Korea and his town as chief of police for 26
years, died Saturday, Nov. 8, at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston after a
long illness.

He was born to Lillian Davis Manter and Daniel Manter on June 14,
1930 at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital in Oak Bluffs. His father,
a respected builder, served West Tisbury as a selectman for 30 years.
His mother was active in the hostel movement, serving as chairman of the
Island hostel committee; the American Youth Hostel on the Edgartown-West
Tisbury Road is named for her.

West Tisbury was predominantly rural when George Manter was growing
up. As a young person, he enjoyed the fishing and hunting provided in a
town that had miles of unrestricted open land and beaches. In the West
Tisbury School, which went up to the eighth grade, there were four or
five children to a class. In June of 1942, a social note in this
newspaper reported:

"George W. Manter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Manter of West
Tisbury, observed his 12th birthday Sunday by entertaining a group of
his schoolmates at a beach party and picnic that afternoon at the Manter
camp at South Beach. Softball was played, swimming followed, and a
frankfurter roast was held at the close of the afternoon.

"Guests included James Alley, William King, Robert Austin,
Jack Reed and John Raymond. Also present were George's parents,
his older sister, Betty, and Marjorie and Robert MacInnis of Vineyard
Haven."

Mr. Manter was graduated from the Tisbury High School in 1949 and
went to work for his father in the building business. He was drafted
into the Army in 1952 and served in the Korean War, from which he was
discharged with the rank of sergeant.

Reported the Gazette on August 22, 1952: "Pvt. George W.
Manter left on Monday from Logan Air Field in Boston and with 40 other
members of his company flew by chartered Army plane to Fort Lawton,
Wash., where he is awaiting further orders."

Mr. Manter was assigned to the 10th Field Artillery Battalion, where
he served as an artillery range fire director at the headquarters
battery fire direction center, which controlled three gun batteries
operating the light cannons called 105 howitzers. The newspaper of Nov.
6, 1953, carried this news:

"Sgt. George Manter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Manter of West
Tisbury, arrived home with three days still to go in the bass derby. His
father had a license waiting for him when he got here, and folks barely
saw hide or hair of him for those three days. As a matter of fact, he
has been pretty much in hiding since then, for shortly after the derby
the hunting season started. It seems that when either a rod or a gun is
involved there's no holding Sergeant Manter."

This wedding notice appeared on Jan. 29, 1954: "Miss Janice
Barbara Riedel, daughter of Mrs. Walter Bernard Riedel of Melrose and
the late Mr. Riedel, became the bride of George Whitten Manter, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Manter of West Tisbury, Saturday in the First
Methodist Church chapel, Melrose." Richard Doane of West Tisbury
was best man and the ushers included Daniel Bryant of West Tisbury.
Together, Mr. and Mrs. Manter would raise a family of two boys and four
girls.

While working with his father as a builder during the early years of
his marriage, Mr. Manter also became a part-time West Tisbury police
officer. "Then I started doing more policing and less
contracting," he later recalled in an interview. In 1966, Mr.
Manter was named chief of police in West Tisbury, a post he would hold
for 26 years until his retirement in June of 1993.

Chief Manter presided over the department during a time of expansion
which saw its budget grow from less than $20,000 to more than $300,000.
Looking back on the years of change, he said, "West Tisbury has
become civilized. Too civilized."

"Chief Manter is a big man, tall and broad-shouldered, with
strong facial features and fine, blue eyes," Virginia Poole wrote
in a story about his impending retirement in 1993. "He fills the
doorways of West Tisbury as he goes about his duties and overflows the
town hall chairs while he patiently waits to speak at meetings. He has
an aura of steadfast attention about him, one that indicates he knows
what his office requires but at the same time transmits his own special
appreciation of people."

In that interview, Chief Manter recalled drawing his firearm only
once in all his years on the West Tisbury police force, and then only
cradling it while apprehending some thieves in the middle of the night.
"I used to tell my men, don't load your gun, and
you'll never get in trouble," he said.

Over the years, Chief Manter brought to his work a deep sense of
fairness and an abiding love for the town he served. Even in his
retirement, his commitment to public service was strong. At the time of
his death, he was a member of the West Tisbury board of health. He
enjoyed his coffee stops at Alley's General Store, Conroy's
Apothecary and Humphrey's Foodshop. He enjoyed hunting and
fishing, especially deer week.

On the eve of his retirement, asked if he had anything he wanted to
say to the community, Chief Manter replied, "To the people of West
Tisbury . . . I think they have been good to the department."

At the start of Wednesday's meeting of the West Tisbury
selectmen, chairman John Early said, "We offer our sincere
condolences to the Manter family on the passing of George Manter. He was
the embodiment of the spirit of West Tisbury, for me, anyway. A giant
was lost. We are all going to feel the loss very deeply."

Mr. Manter's daughter Gretchen died in 1982. In addition to
his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Kimberly and her husband,
Kenneth, of Chilmark; Jennifer and her husband, Glen, of Littleton,
Colo., and Melissa of West Tisbury; two sons, George (Whit) Jr. and his
wife, Diana, and Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter, both of West Tisbury; two
sisters, Elizabeth of Bradenton, Fla., and Marjorie of West Tisbury, and
three grandchildren, Lindsey, Joshua and Jonathan of Chilmark.

A graveside service was held at the West Tisbury Cemetery at 1 p.m.
on Thursday, Nov. 13, with military honors provided by the veterans of
Martha's Vineyard. John S. Alley, cemetery superintendent,
reported that more than 500 people came to pay their respects on a
windswept afternoon.

Donations in Mr. Manter's memory may be made to the Gretchen
Manter Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Office of the Superintendent of
Schools, RR2, Box 261, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.