JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Where were you at 7:40 p.m. last Tuesday evening? We, heeding the word of a local weatherman, were in the parking lot at Menemsha Beach watching the space station with the space shuttle moored to it, orbit the earth . . . at least seeing the six minutes that it was visible over Menemsha. It was a beautiful night and we counted ourselves lucky to have such clear skies. It is kind of hard to top that as the highlight of the week!

We send condolences to the family and many friends of Betty Lazarus of Chilmark and Urbana, Ill. Betty, her husband, David, and her four children, were and are active participants in the Chilmark summer activities since beginning their Chilmark life in 1959. Betty had many friends here who shared her enthusiasm for life and interests in many activities. I remember that for many years she was one of the first of the summer folk to visit my shop each spring . . . sometimes stopping to visit after getting off the ferry and before going on to her Middle Road home. Betty died in Urbana at home with her family and she will be laid to rest at Abel’s Hill Cemetery in Chilmark.

Marianne Neill and her daughter, Jennifer Christy, traveled to Pittsburgh this week to attend the funeral of Marianne’s mother, Grace Davis, who died this week after a long illness. We send condolences to her family.

There will be a gathering in remembrance of Sandy Stevenson in Washington, D.C. on April 19 at 3 p.m. at the Ethical Society, 7750 Sixteenth street NW. Sandy and his wife, Barbara, were long-time summer residents of Chilmark and we miss them.

Scott McDowell is back at his Menemsha home after a long winter vacation in Hawaii visiting his daughter.

Bob and Phyllis Conway enjoyed a two-week vacation in Puerto Rico and are now back in their Stonewall Beach home.

If you still have the planning board’s master plan survey, there is still time to fill it out and return it to town hall. Todd Christy, administrative assistant to the planning board, will be happy to help . . . please call him at 508-645-2104. They will welcome more input to their survey.

Word is out that the Chilmark Church flea market will be back in Chilmark this year. The market will be in a North Road field near the famous red gas pump! It won’t be hard to find on Wednesdays and Saturdays from July 1 to Sept. 5. More details will be forthcoming.

Please make note that the annual town meeting will be on April 27 at the community center starting at 7:30 p.m. Copies of the warrant are available at town hall. Elections will be the next day at the community center.

Our humble Menemsha abode was joyfully overflowing with family last weekend when Sarah Slater Bennett with her husband, Aaron, and two sons, Jack and Scott, came from Attleboro and Caleb Slater and his wife, Chris, and daughter, Celia, came from Northbridge all to help celebrate Grandpa Herb’s birthday. The three dogs had fun, too!

Are you still waiting for cell phone service? We are getting closer to it! There will be a public hearing on April 6 at the community center at 7 p.m. The meeting includes the up-Island distributed antenna system committee, the Aquinnah planning board, the West Tisbury board of selectmen, the Chilmark wireless communications equipment and facilities plan review committee and the Chilmark site review committee. These groups will be getting applications and listening to presentations from the American Tower Corporation for the antenna system and network to provide us with cell phone coverage.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the library is offering a spring fling with games, crafts, food and Wii games for children and adults from 10:30 a.m to 5 p.m. The Chilmark Preschool will hold their spring celebration at the community center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with games, food, and more for the whole family.