JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
It’s been a ghost town all week, largely because of school winter vacation. Many people left Dodge for a warmer climate, while others have gone up north to ski. Even the usually busy Bob over at Reliable Market in Oak Bluffs reports a slow-down from their normally brisk pace.
Monday, March 1 is National Pig Day, and the library craft group will be making piggy crafts in honor of the day. Daylight savings time will be only 14 days away and spring officially begins March 20. As old-timers would say, the back of winter has broken.
Chantale Legare of Elias Way recently returned from a trip to Brazil where she reports having a good time.
Norman and Mary Lu Perry of Waldron’s Bottom Road will be taking their first vacation in 16 years and will celebrate a milestone event at the same time: their golden wedding anniversary! Congratulations to a swell couple.
Lynn Christoffers of Edgartown Road, a nationally known photographer, returned home last Friday after spending several weeks in New York city on assignment. Pierce Kirby 3rd, who has moved to the same city and has an apartment nearby, met Lynn for a ride back to the Vineyard last weekend so he could visit his parents. She is having a display of her photographic work Cats on the Vineyard beginning on Thursday and running all month at the library. An artist’s reception will be held on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Congratulations to Dan Rossi for his recent appointment as acting police chief. Chief Beth Toomey will retire in April after 15 years of service and is taking time off before her official retirement.
Lynn Ditchfield reports that registration for the Adult and Community Education Program will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the lobby of the regional high school. Early registration online is recommended. The spring session begins on Monday, March 8, International Women’s Day, with a free seminar titled Women and the African Diaspora. It is cosponsored by Young Brothers to Men, a benefit for Haitian earthquake relief, and the Chaska Hill Women’s Cooperative of Peru, a benefit for flood victims in that country. The ACE spring catalog is available online and at all the Island schools and libraries. For more information, e-mail lynn@acemv.org or leave a message at 508-693-1033 extension 240.
Colleen Morris over at the library reports that the winter reading series will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and is presented by the Island library association in collaboration with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. On Thursday poet fellows Margaret Reges and Melissa Tuckey will kick off the month-long series. Readings will feature poetry and fiction. The events are free and open to all. For information call 508-693-3366.
But Colleen isn’t finished. On Sunday, March 14 at 3 p.m. the library will hold the first annual Vineyard Limerick Challenge. Back in 1924 Nantucket issued a challenge for limericks based on its tricky name. Colleen issues this challenge for limericks based on Vineyard locales. If you need suggestions or inspiration visit their Web site at westtisburylibrary.org or stop by the library and pick up an entry form. Entries will be judged by some incorruptible card-carrying denizen if they can find one. The event is free, and green refreshments will be served.
On Feb. 28, 1946, Willis Gifford, of Laconia, N.H., arrived in town and spent several days preparing his house located directly across the street from the Grange Hall for rental. Mr. and Mrs. Grafton King and their family of New Bedford, former residents of this town, were planning to return on the first of April and had agreed to occupy the house. They would have a next door neighbor by the fall as Albion Alley had purchased the former Sanderson Mayhew house formerly owned by his daughter Mabel Mayhew Watkins. Mr. King would again be employed as the chief mechanic at Donaldson’s Garage, owned and operated by Bert and Inez Cahoon, just two doors up the street. He would also drive the school bus with tuition students attending the fifth through the 12th grade to the Tisbury School. This was established during the war because of declining enrollment.
Happy Birthday to: Anne Nevin, Irving Katz, Mason Fischer and Natasha Taylor today; Kevin McFarland, Kathryn Sullivan, Gene Bergeron and Shawn Emin tomorrow; Sam Alley, Tom Thatcher, Susan Goldstein and George Brush on Sunday; Susan Phelps, Donnie Mills and Anna Christensen on Monday; Josh Emin and Greg Drake on Tuesday; Tom Church, Francine Fischer and Roger Sylva on Wednesday; Vicki Broscheit, Diana DeBlase and Valentine Estabrook on Thursday.
Well, that is all the social news for this week. I don’t want to miss the news about your vacation so please call or e-mail me with details. Have a great week.
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