Well, I guess David Bowie and Lena Horne and Glenn Frey and Maurice White and B.B. King and Prince and her friend Eddie Heywood and Frank Sinatra and Eva Cassidy and Les Paul and all the other great musicians we have lost needed an organist to complete the band. My mother, Iole Jannace Gardella, our beloved Nonna, died at 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday, May 10, eight days shy of her 99th birthday. I am sure they are all jamming together in heaven right now.

Funeral plans are still being worked out, but I will let you know.

Great love and sympathy also go out to the family of Mrs. Tisbury herself, Cora Medeiros. Cora died at her home in Vineyard Haven on Mother’s Day, surrounded by her family. I have just learned this sad news so I shall certainly devote more time in a later column to how wonderful Cora was for all of us.

In other, more day-to-day news, the First Baptist Church on William street in Vineyard Haven would like to invite you to their annual Musical May Tea and Hat Contest on Saturday, May 21 from 1 to 3 p.m. The music will be provided by the abundantly talented Phil Dietterich, Martha Child, Dorian Lopes and Mary-Jean Miner. Keep an eye out for the beauty and whimsy of Martha’s hat. There will be a bake sale table, a white elephant table and lots of community fun. Grown-ups attend for $10, kids under 12 get in for $5. Go buy some cranberry or banana bread for me.

John Reed, executive director of the Zion Heritage Union Museum in Hyannis, will bring a film and talk to our library Saturday, May 14. The title of the talk is Journeys in the Light: Untold Stories of Cape Cod. John delves into the background of those who peopled the Cape and Islands, of course the Wampanoags, the Brazilians, many Carribeans, and the Cape Verdeans. The lecture is free and refreshments will be served.

Arlen Wise, our famous Island astrologer, will present a talk at the library on Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. in the program room. Those of you who follow the stars are most welcome. The talk is free.

Congratulations to a great group of Island children who made their First Holy Communion at St. Augustine’s last Saturday. How I wish I could have been there to see the sparkling kids and my favorite young beauty, Emanuelly Nascimento! But I did have the pleasure of receiving photos from proud parents and that will have to do.

Confidential to Lyn K: my reading has been interrupted the past few months but I am back in the swing. Remember I told you I read one sports book each season in conjunction with the game? I was delighted to find Beyond DiMaggio: Italian-Americans in Baseball by Lawrence Baldassaro. I was able to borrow it from the free lending library at Calvary Hospital. Keep in mind your book donations for Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, and those hospitals you use on the Cape.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Judith Campbell, Terri Hayes and James Cooley Friday; Saturday, May 14 is a party for Becky Wilson Esposito, Jesse Elsasser, Emily Tarbegh, Leo Convery and Dan D. Koch; May 15 shines on Jeffrey Sylvia; May 16 is for Jody Reston, James Seccombe and Silvio Spiconardi; May 17 honors Jenna Bagnall, Martin Simoni, Wesley Coelha Souza and Marie Doubleday; and on May 19, Dot Eldefry, Zach Charter and Tony Gramkowski take the cake. Many happy returns.

Send Vineyard Haven news to iklean@yahoo.com.