A quiet gathering at the West Tisbury library on Sunday celebrated the life of F. Patrick Gregory, town moderator from 1991 to 2014 and an avid library patron.

Mr. Gregory died a year ago next week, the victim of a homicide while hiking in northern California.

As moderator, Pat Gregory was remembered as "fairness squared." — Ivy Ashe

About 75 people attended the ceremony Sunday, during which the lobby of the library was dedicated to Mr. Gregory. People were greeted by soft piano improvisations by David Stanwood, who also played an Irish lament following a moment of silence. A small white plaque, in the style of other plaques in the library, had been mounted on the wall next to the circulation desk.

West Tisbury selectman Cynthia Mitchell held back tears as she read from a letter written by children’s librarian Nelia Decker, who recalled Mr. Gregory’s grandchildren, Bess and Jack Carbon, and the care he took in reading to them and helping them find books at the library. “The kids loved being read to and he spent many hours reading patiently to them,” Ms. Decker wrote.

Ms. Mitchell said her first reaction when hearing about the dedication was thinking that it should happen at the town hall, since Mr. Gregory was so much a part of town government. But she agreed that the library dedication was a fitting tribute. “Like town meeting, this too is a community gathering place, in which he was also a solid and comforting presence,” she said.

In a symbolic gesture of appreciation, voters approved the lobby dedication at the annual town meeting in April. And a photograph of Mr. Gregory smiling behind the podium is on the cover of the annual town report this year.

Shannon Gregory Carbon said going to the library was a ritual for her father. — Mark Lovewell

Mr. Gregory’s daughter, Shannon Gregory Carbon, also spoke at the dedication on Sunday.

“Visiting the library was a ritual for my father,” she said. “On Monday nights, he and my mother had a standing date here. Other times, Dad waited patiently while Jack and Bess chose their books. And before that he waited for my brother and me.” She added that the library itself was the town’s “beating heart,” with its stories, poetry, music and community all nourishing the soul.

“A library’s contents have healing power and can transform a person’s perspective no matter where one resides,” she said. Through tears, she thanked West Tisbury and other communities for their kindness over the last year. “My father would have loved to have been here today,” she said.

Following the dedication, people lingered in the lobby, where afternoon light streamed in through a skylight, and in the adjoining program room, where there were refreshments. An annual town meeting from 2008 played on a large television at the far end of the room. Marshall Segall saw himself on the screen, talking into the microphone, and walked over, having no recollection of the event. But he easily remembered Mr. Gregory’s gift for moderating, describing his best quality as “fairness squared.”

Selectman Cynthia Mitchell said Mr. Gregory was a solid, comforting presence in town. — Mark Lovewell

“I mean he was so fair,” Mr. Segall said. “He never lost control of the meeting but he never cut anybody off from reasonable discourse. He also was inspiring because he was a model of patience.”

Dan Waters, a library trustee who took over as town moderator this year, also recalled Mr. Gregory’s skillful hand at the town meetings. Mr. Waters helped lead the campaign to renovate and expand the West Tisbury library, beginning in 2011. The $6.2 million project required “a huge amount of public discussion,” he said, which Mr. Gregory helped facilitate.

“Pat, as all moderators are, remained at a respectful distance of all town projects because he needed to be neutral,” Mr. Waters said. “At the same time he was very clearly a library lover, because he used the library a lot.” He always accommodated Mr. Waters’s requests to speak about the project at the annual town meetings.

When voters were asked in 2012 to approve $1.5 million for the project, “we had told the story so often and so clearly that it pretty much sailed through,” Mr. Waters said. “But town meeting was an important part of the process of building this library.” The new library opened its doors in March of 2014.

Although dedications in West Tisbury do not require a town meeting vote, Mr. Waters said the vote in April gave the town a voice in the process, “so that when it was dedicated it wasn’t just coming from the selectmen, it wasn’t just coming from the trustees, it was coming from the voters. And that’s what we wanted.”

Needless to say, the article passed unanimously.