He began writing for the Gazette only three years ago although it seemed like Will Monast had been around forever. Quietly competent, he was self-taught in all things, from carpentry to fishing to writing. He had lived on Cuttyhunk for twenty-five years with his wife and four children before moving to the Vineyard, and he had stories he needed to tell.

So in 2012, he began writing essays for this newspaper. His column was titled Tales from Gosnold, but the real geography was his imagination. Lightly fictional, partly autobiographical, a little gonzo (sometimes more than a little), the half-truths getting closer to a larger truth as each episode unfolded.

And then it was over. Last week Will died after a brief bout with cancer. Because of who he was, he had kept the grave nature of his illness mostly private.

His too-short writing career was, as he once wrote, “an odyssey that will only end with my death and burial, still alone, in the northwest corner of my past, having been loved enough to at least be a memory.”

More than just a memory, Will Monast’s writing endures as a permanent reminder of the time that he graced the pages of the Gazette.