JUNE D. MANNING
508-645-2574
Aquinnah Police Chief Randhi P. Belain celebrated a major milestone on Wednesday, March 30. Hurray for our chief. Hail to our chief who respectfully carries on the tradition of his late father, Kenneth F. Belain, our police chief for twenty-two years who served our community so well. Randhi certainly learned many great lessons from his dad. Although I did not catch up with him on Wednesday, I will before the end of the week.
The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living is pleased to announce the fourth in a series of cultural luncheons. The next luncheon will be on Saturday, April 9 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Grill on Main in Edgartown. Ruth Cronig Stiller and her daughter, Gayle Stiller, will present the influence and contributions of the Jewish community on Martha’s Vineyard. Ruth and Gayle are descendants of the original settlers who arrived a little more than a century ago. There will be live Klezmer music for your listening pleasure. We will dine on a delicious culturally chosen luncheon by chef Anthony Saccoccia and his staff. Tickets are $25. For reservations, please call Center for Living Director Leslie Clapp at 508-939-9440.
Chilmark Preschool presents their annual Spring Celebration on Saturday, April 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Admission is $5 for children ages two and up; adults and babies are free. Once again, this will be a fun day filled with wonder and adventure with family crafts and activities to support the preschool. Enjoy the pony rides, games, crafts, and face painting. Lunch will be available. There will be chicks for sale and a plant sale as well. Join in the fun, rain or shine.
Thank you to the Aquinnah Tribal Youth Group, under the guidance of their coordinator Theresa Manning, for their work above and beyond during socials at the tribe. They recently set up, served, and put everything back in order during the recent ECHO program. In addition, they were each responsible for baking the delicious desserts we all enjoyed. Those assisting for the ECHO program included Benjamin and Chantal Booker, Elsie Fantasia, Adahy and Yannick Gonsalves, Rachaya Lane, and Faith Smalley. They were assisted by Spencer Booker and Serel Garvin.
National Library Week is observed April 10 through 16. During the week, the Aquinnah Public Library will have a fine amnesty for all materials to be returned with no questions asked and no fines assessed. The week is celebrated as a time to be grateful that libraries all across America offer access to materials and information to everyone in the community.
The needlecraft group will meet at the Aquinnah Public Library on Tuesday, April 5 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Please feel free to bring any variety of stitching projects you may be working on at the present time. Beverages and snacks will be available.
The Aquinnah Public Library bottle drive is continuing through the month of April at the landfill. Please drop off your clean bottles and cans to be recycled by Amanda and Steve Hutchinson. Money obtained from the refunds will be used to match a Libri Foundation Grant for the purchase of children’s books as well as math and science books.
The Martha’s Vineyard Chapter of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists will meet on Wednesday, April 13 at 7 p.m. at the Family History Center in Tisbury across from the Black Dog Café. Feel free to bring your ancestry charts to learn more with the assistance of other members. For all the years I have been doing genealogy, I learned more this week from master genealogist Wendy deGeofroy than one would ever imagine about my off-Island third great-grandparents. It was amazing and felt like a little bit of Who Do You Think You Are right here in your own backyard. Thank you, Wendy, who is also an incredible search angel for adoptees and birthparents.
Mark your calendars for the annual Wampanoag Spring Social to which the public is invited. There will be a day of welcoming the springtime with lunch, dancing and drum. Festivities will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please bring a side dish or a dessert to share.
Have you stopped by the Aquinnah town hall this week? Rick Convery and his team of painters have transformed the walls from their pale grey primer to sunrise dream yellow. It is certainly a welcoming sign, although a little bright at first. Each department director will have the opportunity to chose a new color for their individual offices. A great way to celebrate spring time.
Aquinnah town clerk Carolyn Feltz reminds everyone that nomination papers are due in her office at the close of office hours on Wednesday, April 6. Thus far, there are not any contested positions, as all incumbents are running for their same positions. The only change will be that Nancy Delaney has decided not to run again as a candidate for library trustee therefore Jean Lince has taken out papers for that position. Thank you to Nancy for her many years of serving as a library trustee.
Despite the surprise snow a week ago, we have enjoyed temperatures in the high 40’s this week. The daffodils are peeking through, the osprey have returned, the shad are beginning to bud, and seasonal residents are opening their homes.
Paula (Vanderhoop) Malone, her husband, Raymond, and their grandson, Paul Rivera, arrived in Aquinnah this past week. They enjoyed attending the elders luncheon on Thursday, a grand tour with her uncle, Edwin D. Vanderhoop, a family potluck dinner on Friday evening with as many of her first and second cousins who were in town for the evening where we all celebrated Edwin D. Vanderhoop’s 85th birthday. It was Paula’s first visit to Aquinnah in 10 years with their visit specifically a graduation gift for Paul who will be graduating from high school in May. On Saturday morning they headed to Chestnut Hill as the guests of her cousin, Paul Galbraith, his wife, Janette, and their sons, Moshup and Naushon. They also visited with her aunt, Marjorie (Vanderhoop) Galbraith, and her daughter, Polly, of Everett. Needless to say, Paula, Ray and Paul had a wonderful whirlwind of a trip which began in Washington, D.C., a visit with friends in Manhattan, family and friends on the Vineyard and in Boston, returning to their home in Glendora, California on Sunday. They enjoyed themselves immensely and have all promised to return soon.
Belated happy birthday wishes to Grace Frye, who celebrated her special day on March 28. Many will remember Grace as the Avon lady for half a century on the Vineyard.
Happy birthday wishes today to Betty Rose, Linda Fischer, and Peggy Yoars. April 2 is a day of celebration for Audrey Jeffers-Mayhew, who will observe a major milestone and shares the day with Michael Barnes, Jim Sharp, and Levi Moreis, who will be 10 years old.
Happy birthday wishes to June C. D. Noble on April 3, who shares the day with Amy Vanderhoop and a favorite nurse, Pam Knight. April 4 will certainly be a day of celebration for Rose Styron, Nancy Delaney, Bonnie Chalifoux, Shelby Ives, Deborah Mayhew, Amira Madison, Donna Rose Klier, Christopher Murphy, and Isolete Fernandes. Patty Gazaille, Sandy Ferreira, Lynn Packish, and Nadaizja Aiguier-Bolling will all party on April 6. Jennie Greene, Taza Vercruysse, and Dona Mazza Perry all share the day on April 7. Jim Hickey and Douglas Vanderhoop will party on April 8.
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