TOM DRESSER
508-693-1050
We want spring to be here, but the bright, sunny end of March gave way to April chills and showers. At least we can get Back Door Donuts or breakfast at Slice of Life, starting next week. Keep thinking spring!
Games Night at the Oak Bluffs school was a success. The PTO congratulates Barbara Jones for her efforts. Ms. Holenko’s fifth grade, the seventh grade Economic Stimulus Basket and Barbara Jones’ first grade arts and crafts basket earned top honors in ticket sales.
Eighth grader Sam Alsen wrote a letter to Cynthia Kodohata, author of Lara Lara, which earned him honorable mention from the Letters About Literature Program. Sam will be formally honored at the state house in May.
The second annual Oak Bluffs School trivia night is tonight, Friday, April 3, at 6 p.m. Ray Whitaker will be the host. Prizes, food and camaraderie are available.
Author/illustrator Paul Carrick welcomes the public to his first gallery exhibit at Featherstone this Sunday, April 5, from 4 to 6 p.m. with a display of original art work. His new book, Watch Out for Wolfgang, will be on sale.
Lani Carney promotes her heart to heart program at Featherstone this Saturday, April 4, from 9 a.m. to noon for children ages three to eight. Art work by Vineyard children will go to Dartmouth Medical School to brighten the lives of children with chronic medical conditions. For more information, call 508-693-1850.
Kate Feiffer announces publication of Which Puppy?, a children’s book about the first pooch. The book was illustrated by Kate’s father, Jules Feiffer, and was reveiwed in USA Today, which then featured it on Stephen Colbert’s Comedy Central show, The Colbert Report. Congrats, Kate.
The Oak Bluffs library will show a new DVD on their big projection screen from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 9. They can’t give away the title, but they will say Sally Hawkins stars in this comedy about a jubilant school teacher named Poppy. It’s rated R, and just like at the movies, there’s popcorn and drinks — but here there’s no charge!
Sign up for updates/reminders about library activities at oakbluffslibrary.org.
Town Profile: Priscilla Sylvia
Priscilla Sylvia first came to the Vineyard in 1940 when her father was postmaster at West Chop. She didn’t return until she was in high school, then came with a friend, “a summer person.” Priscilla’s family lived variously in Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts, so she considers herself a New Englander “all the way through.”
Priscilla’s roots run deep. “My grandfather was a mason who worked on the Tisbury School,” she says, adding that her father taught at Tisbury High in the 1930s. A few former students remember him, including Betty Honey.
During summers in college Priscilla came to the Vineyard to work as a waitress at the Edgartown Cafe (now The Wharf). “It has the same bar, but the restaurant has been updated,” she observes. She worked for Dr. Nevin and his eight children. As a new bride, Priscilla lived on Circuit avenue, then spent a short stint teaching in Amherst.
In 1965, she finally moved to the Vineyard for good. “I made up my mind I was going to stay.”
Priscilla taught fifth grade in Oak Bluffs from 1965 until her retirement in 2001. For 17 of those years she co-taught fifth and sixth grades with Marge Leonard, Priscilla teaching language arts and social studies, and Marge handling math and science. Shortly after her retirement she ran for school committee, unopposed, and is still on the board.
Her son Carl, who just turned 47, traveled out west and settled in a community similar to Oak Bluffs; he lives in Hailey, Idaho, and serves as assistant fire chief. Previously, he worked as city planner, like his mother dedicating himself to bettering his community. Carl, his partner and son, Griffen, visit the Vineyard each summer.
Since the inception of the land bank, which she helped to form, Priscilla has been the Oak Bluffs commissioner. She sits on the Oak Bluffs Historical Commission and the Community Development Council, which provides research and planning for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. “We do their homework,” she smiles. The CDC has developed guidelines for the community preservation act, wrote the youth policy, and the cost of services study for planning purposes.
Priscilla was one of the earliest Friends of Oak Bluffs, taking over on the death of David Healey. “I became treasurer in 1981, and have been ever since,” she says. As the “brick, bench and lantern lady,” she works to install memorial bricks around the bandstand in Ocean Park, the lanterns along the harbor and benches wherever someone wants them in a public place. She orders the plaque, with names, and “they just keep on going out.” She has seven more lanterns along the harbor, still available.
Once again we found a candidate who exemplifies a woman who dedicates herself to her family, her friends and her town of Oak Bluffs.
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My wife loved Ken Follett’s World Without End, a sequel to his Pillars of the Earth. Joyce wrote to Mr. Follett, and he promptly responded to her compliments.
And now it really is time to pass the baton back to Holly Nadler, who returns refreshed and revitalized from a couple of months in warm and comfortable California.
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