Sunday, Sept. 25 was a beautiful day for a walk. It was also my Dad’s 100th birthday. Dad passed 18 years ago. The cause of death was Alzheimer’s. I usually participate in the Cape and Islands walk to end Alzheimer’s. But here I was, in my Old Country, on Dad’s birthday, and nothing would do but for me to walk in White Plains in the Hudson Valley Alzheimer’s fundraiser through the streets of the town he loved so well.

I walked in memory of Silvio Gardella, his Mom, Katerina Gardella, Aunt Letty Gardella and our Island’s own Gertrude Baptiste and Phoebe Norton. I walked in honor of Cousin Paul Petrone, friends Mary Faith Fortunate, Saralee Rosenkrantz and Aunt Mary Alice Jannace.

It was a wonderful course; it still is a small town here. The Byrnes sisters signed me in, lovely women for whom I babysat when they were wee ones, living across the street. My walking partner turned out to be a fabulous attorney, Fran P., who had done work for my parents.

There was a deejay at the starting gate, there were the inevitable snacks, juice and water bottles, there were cheerleaders to urge us on. The colors of our ribbon and organization are purple and white, and I had a hard time reminding myself I was not on our MVRHS campus preparing for the big game against Nantucket.

People walked in groups, alone, with dogs, with family members in wheelchairs and strollers. My young friend from Vineyard Haven, Toby Danger Riseborough, was walking in the Greater Boston-Cambridge Alzheimer’s Walk, same day, same time. Donations are continuing, and you may donate to the Cape and Islands, the Hudson Valley or any town you choose because Alzheimer’s is everywhere. We are walking and donating for those who cannot. Thank you. Happy birthday, Dad.

Christopher and Erin Gray of the Pond House announced that a most beautiful wedding was held there on Sept. 3. The Pond House fronts Lake Tashmoo and Vineyard Sound. The property was purchased by the bride’s great-grandmother, the late Helen Pratt Philbin in the mid-40s. In 1968, Helen and her late husband, Jesse Holiday Philbin gave the town of what was then Gay Head the beach front property which bears the family name to this day. Getting back to the newlyweds, Chris and Erin’s daughter, Olivia Temple Emmet Gray, joined lives with John Paul Konrath at the family compound on a beautiful day. May they live happily ever after.

Please check your local church listings for the all-important blessing of the animals which takes place this weekend. And thank you for asking, Silvio Joseph Gardella, my little lhasa apso, is doing well enough after his surgery last week to fight with me about taking his medicines.

Susan Block, the indefatigable project coordinator of the Martha’s Vineyard Partnership for Health, thanks all who attended the free volunteer caregiving training sessions last week, focusing on the issues of balance and falling. Please pre-register and join her for six free sessions called Powerful Tools for Caregivers. The sessions are open to everyone beginning Tuesday, Oct. 11 at the Anchors in Edgartown through Tuesday, Nov. 15. Time of the classes is 1:15 to 3:45 p.m. Pre-registration is required, call 508-627-4368, ext. 14, or write to wbenedetto@edgartown-ma.us. As I have just completed several years of caregiving I cannot tell you how valuable it would have been for me to have these courses when I started. Thank you all.

Katy Fuller of our Martha’s Vineyard Museum announces a Sunday event you will all want to attend. An end of season celebration of the Gay Head Lighthouse will take place in Aquinnah on Sunday, Oct. 9 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The lighthouse will be open for touring that day. The Gay Head Lighthouse hosted over 20,000 visitors this summer. It will re-open on Memorial Day weekend in 2017. Lighthouse keeper, Richard Skidmore will be present, special mention will go to Len Butler who was so instrumental in the relocation effort. Admission is free. Sounds like another spectacular Sunday.

Betty Burton is at it again. The program room of our Vineyard Haven Public Library is like her off-site living room. She will host you again with her famous popcorn and lemonade for the vice- presidential candidates debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the debate begins at 9 p.m. It will be broadcast from Farmville, Va., and moderated by CBS correspondent Elaine Quijano.

Here’s to people who fall in love and stay there! Toby and Patty Codding have just celebrated 47 years of wedded bliss. Bill and Cathy Dille Burdick recently observed their 25th year of love, loyalty and raising dogs. Congratulations.

The birthday bandwagon pulled along Walter Burke, Kandace Sylvia and Gay Smith on Sept. 30; Oct. 1 is a party for Alan Peterson, Allie Clark and Alyssa Mayrand; Oct. 2 is shared by Bill Wingert and Mary Etherington; Oct. 3 shines on my personal favorite Saint Francis of Assisi, Toby Codding and well-known cat lover and mother of Mulu the Sailing Feline, Jeanie Hay-Sternbach; Oct. 4 is claimed by Liz Figueroa, Rebecca Palmer, Zack Post, Michael Sawyer and Lizzie Andrews; and on Oct. 6 Ross MacPherson and Megan Willy take the cake. Many happy returns.

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