JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark’s September is acting like August. There are still many visitors, lots of gatherings and plenty of cars on the road. Let’s hope we can all keep up with things for a while longer.

I think I will start the column this week with romance! There is still some around and that should cheer us all! The sight of a perfect orange moon rising over the ocean on the evening of July 15 prompted Daniel Leventritt, of Blue Barque, to propose to Jennifer Wool of Burlington, Vt. She accepted and a future is being planned. Cheers from us all!

The second story is only partly Chilmark’s and the rest Aquinnah’s and here it is. Fred Croft is the captain of the bike ferry, which is a small boat that takes bikes and riders from one side of Menemsha Creek to the other, thus, taking them from one town to another. On Sept. 6 while crossing the Creek, justice of the peace Merrily Fenner married Fred and Sarah Saltonstall. Congratulations from us all!

Jack and Nina Huberman of Santa Fe are spending a couple of weeks at their Menemsha home.

Cathy Thompson is entertaining Ted and Kaye Grabbe of Illinois, friends who are visiting Martha’s Vineyard for the first time. Kaye is the director of the Lake Forest Library.

Lia Kahler-Littlefield is preparing for her charity concert, Songs for my Father, to be held on Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown at 3 p.m. The concert is to raise funds for the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard and the Polly Hill Arboretum. There will be a silent auction of an interesting variety of goods and services to be held before the concert. Lia’s accompanist, pianist Richard Gordon of New York city, is her house guest this week in Menemsha.

Fall hours for the Menemsha Café are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily with dinner served on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

The Chilmark Library has returned to its winter schedule of hours. Tom Dresser will talk about his new book, The Wampanoag Tribe of Martha’s Vineyard at the Wednesday program on Sept. 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the library. The public is welcome at no charge.

Max and Connie McCreery are back at their South Road home after an enjoyable trip to Alaska. Several family members accompanied them.

Caileigh Elizabeth Edwards was baptized at the Chilmark Community Church on August 28. Her parents, Amanda and Jeremy Edwards, sponsors Tim Hartwell and Amy Carroll, grandmother Susan Luce Thomas and great-grandmother Elizabeth Luce were all in attendance. Four generations of this Luce family have been baptized on Martha’s Vineyard. She joins a large and extended family as the Luces go back to the early settlers of Martha’s Vineyard. The family headquarters in Chilmark is the Luce home on Chowder Kettle Lane. Caleigh’s grandmother, Susan’s cousin Don and Susan Luce of Downington, Pa., are now at the Luce family home on Chowder Kettle Lane. Their son, Thomas with his wife, Annie, recently visited with their infant son, Mason, who was making his first visit to the Island. The family lives in Phoenixville, Pa.

The Chilmark Library wishes to thank the sponsors of the Summer Reading Program. The local businesses offer coupons as incentives for reading. They are: the Menemsha Market, Menemsha Texaco, Chilmark Chocolates, the Bite, the Chilmark Store and the Galley.

Chuck and Marjorie Phillips have recently returned from a trip to Union, Me., to visit with their daughter, Susan, and her husband, Ed Weber, and their children, Owen and Anna. The Phillips also traveled to Verona Island for a day’s visit with Chuck’s sister and husband.

The Aquinnah Library will host the first of a four-part series of book discussions led by Prof. Phil Weinstein of Aquinnah. The title of the series is Fictions of Colonial Encounter. The first will be a discussion of The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It will take place at the Old Aquinnah Town Hall from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. The second program of the series will be at the Chilmark library in October. The public is welcome at no charge.

The Menemsha Pond Racers held their 78th annual end-of-season party at the home of Ken and Jill Iscol. The meeting included a tribute to Arthur and Marge Railton, who ran the races for many years. Arthur died earlier this year and is missed by his sailor friends in this organization. Fleet Captain William Glazer paid tribute to Arthur by using several of his memorable quotes in the award tribute. Acknowledgment was also made of the presence at the meeting of Railton grandchildren, Charlotte and Ryan Railton. Awards for annual achievements were also handed out at the meeting.

The awful date, Sept. 11, is almost here and we will sadly recall the world’s and Chilmark’s losses on that day. Please take a moment to remember our two young men who died that day, Tom and Barbara Rivers’s son, David, and Jeff and Alison Crowther’s son, Welles. Both were unfortunately at work in one of the twin towers. The Crowther family is proud to tell us of a video made in tribute to the victims of the day and especially, Welles. You can find it on You Tube if you look for Man in the Red Bandana. It is a moving story and documentary of what researchers were able to put together as the last hour of Welles’ life. The actor Ed Burns is the narrator. We wish peace for the families of the victims and peace for the world in the uncertain future.