Out of the blue, on August 31 Jan received a call on her cell phone from a man named Dick who said he loves Back Door Donuts and would like to talk. After going to the post office to mail those month-end payments, Jan headed to his home, a beautiful house down a long driveway on Oyster Pond — truly magnificent setting.

We had put it out to the universe that some day we would love to have someone walk into the bakery and say they love the bakery and wanted to buy it. Amazingly, it happened. Dick wanted to buy the bakery.

In the five months since, we’ve had many conversations and negotiations. On Tuesday, Feb. 6 we sold the Bakery and Back Door Donuts to Back Door Donuts LLC. The new owners include Dick Friedman, president and chief executive officer of Carpenter & Company in Boston, David Ginsberg, vice chairman of both the Red Sox and the Fenway Sports Group, and Patrick Lyons, chief executive officer of the Lyons Group.

All are very nice people as well as obviously competent, quality-oriented executives. All have homes on Martha’s Vineyard and are big fans of Back Door Donuts.

Rita and Jan will be involved to a limited extent, especially during the next few months. Raffi will continue as head pastry chef, and Shirley will continues as his assistant. Everyone hopes to make a seamless transition.

So what are we going to do now? I suspect we’ll be almost as busy as we always have been. Besides helping out with the bakery, Rita will continue to take our dogs to the dog park every day, continue her dog grooming business, deliver Meals on Wheels and visit with friends she’s made here on the Vineyard during the past 17 years. She recently agreed to serve as president of our church, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard; undoubtedly that will be almost a full-time job.

Jan wants to try doing nothing, at least for a week. What week that might be she doesn’t know yet. She wants to sit on the deck and read a good book, watch the birds, garden, take a swim in the condo pool, take lots of photos, and visit with family and friends. Jan is the treasurer for the UU Society, so she’ll continue to exercise her brain and bookkeeping skills on a regular basis.

While we’re happy to have found very nice people to buy the bakery, it is also with a bit of sadness that we let it go. For the past 17 years we have given our lives and many long hours to the bakery — seven days a week. We’ve met many very nice people along the way. They will be surprised and even sad to come into the bakery and not find Rita there. She was the face of the bakery. Jan worked behind the scenes and had her own group of customers and vendors. This will be a change for all of us — but a good one.

We both have been working steadily for the past 51 years. It’s time for a rest. We’ve earned it. We live on Martha’s Vineyard — now we’ll be able to fully enjoy the Island and participate in some of the great summer happenings.

Thank you for your support and encouragement over the years. Keep going to the bakery — Raffi will be there continuing to create delicious baked goods and amazing apple fritters. Maybe we’ll be there too.