State Rep. Tim Madden, who is finishing his third term serving the district that includes Martha’s Vineyard, is famously hesitant to sing his own praises. But the people who came to hear him speak last week at the Gazette Tuesdays in the Newsroom series displayed no such hesitation.

“I want to thank you for your service,” said Bob Egerton Jr. of Edgartown, who is treasurer of the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services board of directors. “You’ve been very effective in a quiet, unassuming, oftentimes below the radar kind of way. My sense is you’ve been interested in good legislation more than who’s going to get credit for it. We’re better as a result of that.”

Mr. Madden, a Nantucket resident, returned the praise of the audience.

“You guys work really well together,” he said. “As much as you like to fight, and be parochial, and have your own fiefdoms, at the end of the day you understand the value of this Island.”

Mr. Madden named several accomplishments that he said were most gratifying during his time at the statehouse, including negotiation to locate wind facilities further offshore and insuring that the Martha’s Vineyard Commission had a voice in permitting the wind farms; helping to establish a Martha’s Vineyard license plate that raises money for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services; and guarding the Island’s interests in legislation that involved the Steamship Authority.

He offered some advice for his successor.

“We actually have an exercise that we do when the budget comes out,” Mr. Madden said. “We do a word search. We do it on the Steamship, because that word will be in there and if it says Steamship, we want to know what it’s about. I do the counties, I do Dukes, I do Nantucket, I do Barnstable. Then I do the towns.”

Mr. Madden said he is not ruling out seeking political office in the future, but for now he is ready to spend more time at home with his wife, children and grandchildren.

“I had to give that some serious thought,” he said when asked why he didn’t run for the state senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dan Wolf. “I would never rule it out in the future, but I also want to spend some more time at home. Probably after a few years my wife might say its time for you to find something. It’s been a lot of travel. I made the commitment when I did this. I said I want to be the guy who comes over here a lot. I didn’t want it to be a four time a year trip. I really have enjoyed it.”

The audience capped the evening with a sustained standing ovation.