The sale of the U.S. Marine Hospital property, so-called, in Vineyard Haven, to the St. Pierre School, by the Boston Seaman’s Friend Society, appears to be in the process of becoming effective at the present time according to Henry Corey, Oak Bluffs attorney, who is handling the legal part of the transaction for the New Bedford Institution for Savings.

The school occupied the premises during the summer of 1960 under a lease, with the option of buying, according to J. Raoul St. Pierre, who, with his wife, has conducted a summer school on the Island for many years. The Boston Seaman’s Friend Society acquired the property when it was sold by the U. S. Government after it had been discontinued as a unity of the Public Health Service, and it was indicated at that time that the society planned to dispose of the present Seaman’s Bethel on the Vineyard Haven waterfront and transfer this mission to the hospital property.

Plans Were Changed

Public protests and possibly legal complications, had the the effect of changing the plans of the society, which still owns the Bethel and since this change of plan occurred, the society has allowed it to be known that it would sell the hospital property. Three years ago, or thereabouts, Mr. and Mrs. St. Pierre obtained their lease, as stated, and after much repairing of the main building, both inside and out, conducted their school there during the summer months.

As it now appears from what Mr. Corey has said, the school will return to Vineyard Haven. The St. Pierres have not contacted the Gazette, up to this point, but having previously stated their plans if title to the property could be obtained, they indicated their intentions to resume their operation and to restore it to the status of former years, with close to a hundred enrollments for each season. The St. Pierre Summer School has always been popular in Vineyard Haven, and this news, fragmentary as it is, may be expected to arouse enthusiasm in that town.