In the early 1990s Jane Brown was living in Virginia surrounded by family and a large community of friends. She moved to Virginia in the 1950s because her first husband was employed there. So, for 40 years Jane raised her three sons and taught grade school English in Virginia — until one day . . .

As expressed by her son, Chris, “One day Mom announced she was moving full-time to Martha’s Vineyard. She said she felt the Island was calling her home. So she consciously moved to the Island to live out her remaining years.”

When Jane was a little girl in the early 1930s, her family, which hailed from White Plains, N.Y., built a one-story summer home in Oak Bluffs. Jane’s parents had no idea their Oak Bluffs summer home would end up serving as their daughter’s year-round home.

“Mom surprised me,” Chris said. “It didn’t take her long to create a broad community of new friends. Mom particularly enjoyed her poetry group of friends at the Cleaveland House in West Tisbury, and her Quaker Society of Friends.”

Jane enjoyed singing with choir groups — such as the West Tisbury Congregational Church choir, as well as performing social services like Meals On Wheels. For 10 years Jane delivered meals in all kinds of weather; however, after one tough winter of snow and ice, Jane stopped delivering meals at age 83.

Judith Neeld, de facto chairman of the poets at Cleaveland House, recalled, “When Jane first joined our group in the 1990s, she was excited to explore our world of poetry. Jane asked a lot of questions, and enjoyed learning from the poems of others. Jane’s first poems touched on the pain of losing her second husband. I believe poetry acted as a catharsis for Jane, helping her to awaken to seeing life anew. We knew she was awakening to a new life when she started writing about her favorite subjects of her dog, Mac, and the birds, trees, stars, animals and other poems filled with wit and humor.”

Janet Holladay recalled, “I first met Jane when she walked into Tisbury Printer and said to me, ‘I want you to help me publish a book of my poetry.’” Janet designed Jane’s first book, Home at Last — a book celebrating Jane’s first three years of living on the Vineyard full-time. Janet also designed Jane’s second book, Breaking Through, in 2005.

In the last year of Jane’s life, Janet and two members of the Threshold singing group (Ann Schwenk and Cheryl Burns) sang for Jane every Friday, including this past Friday. Just before dying, Jane requested that the three Threshold singers perform at her memorial service.

“One thing about Mom, she was a strong-willed person,” her son Chris said. “Once she made up her mind — that was it! Mom always figured out a way to fulfill her dreams. She really loved the time she spent with her fellow poets. Toward the end, when Mom couldn’t travel, the poets came to our home. During one meeting I shared one of my poems. Mom loved it so much she almost broke down crying. I’ve been told my poetry feels a lot like my mom’s,” he laughed. “Maybe it’s in the genes.”

Poet, author and photographer William Waterway lives in Edgartown.