The recent passing of Adrienne Maddox Hayling, of East Chop and Trenton, N.J, signals the end of an era in Oak Bluffs that began in the 1950’s and bears the name of the first popularly elected African American Unites States senator, Edward W. Brooke. The link between Adrienne, her late husband Dr. Les “Big Daddy” Hayling and Brooke is both personal and institutional. Brooke and both Haylings went to Howard University in Washington, DC and both Brooke and Adrienne went to the historic Dunbar High School also in Washington, DC. And of course they shared all things Vineyard.

Adrienne was the epitome of social grace and class. She held her annual August gathering on her lawn for many years having prepared most of the delicious food by hand. She would call you on the phone or drop by your cottage to extend the invitation personally. And the invitations were personal, these were not  “do drop in” affairs. Everybody that was included felt special. There was nothing left to chance when her hand touched a social event. Table decorations, name tags, napkins, flowers and placements were all done with deliberate patterns and stylish configurations. After her husband Les took ill from a stroke she spent many years by his side foregoing summers on the Island. He passed in 2017 and she summoned her strong constitution and her determination to host one final party on the grounds of the sprawling family compound that summer. It was both a testimony to their long marriage and partnership and a tip of the hat to the way things were done in the Age of Brooke.

Brooke was invited to the Island in 1949 by Boston friends Edna and Lionel Lindsay — at the time Lionel was president of the Boston Branch of the NAACP. Brooke would later recall this visit: “I had fallen in love with the Island. I fell under the spell of the Island’s sandy beaches, tall sea grasses and sand dunes, weather-stained wood shingled houses, and the clay cliffs at Gay Head rising up from the beach. Soon I was house hunting, and I found one on Canonicus avenue in Oak Bluffs.”

His purchase of this cottage launched a transition from the Age of Shearer (1900-1950) to the era when the Cottagers was founded, when the Oak Bluffs Tennis Club was founded. Brooke’s mother Helen Brooke was among the founders of the former, and Les’s brother Bill Hayling was a founder of the latter. It was the period in which the Shearer Summer Theatre was founded by Liz White of the Shearer clan, performing plays such as Rain, Anna Lucasta and Othello at Twin Cottage and other venues on the Vineyard. Those were the days when the Labor Day tennis tournament was the place to be, when the Inkwell Beach was an all day exercise with the three to five cocktail sips that followed. Everybody had a 693 telephone exchange so you need only give a friend your last four digits to place a call. Fraternities and sororities were proud badges of old college ties. Families came to the Vineyard for the entire summer, Motown reigned supreme. Nobody knocked on your open door before they entered your cottage. Informality, conviviality, social gatherings, friendships provided the glue for a very special group of people in a very special place in history.

On March 10, 2015 on a brisk rainy morning, Washington DC received its most distinguished son at the venerable National Cathedral, just before his final resting place at the Arlington National Cemetery. Waiting to receive her dear friend was Adrienne Hayling. Joining her was Mary Hill Tucker and Charlotte Holloman. The Finleys, Grains, Slaughters and Stents were also present representing some of the “original families” from the Age of Brooke (1950-2000). Adrienne and Les have closed the chapter that formed the immovable foundation built initially by the “vision class” that catapulted the African American experience from the Age of Brooke to the Age of Obama. We will be forever in their debt. Great memories will gird Les, Jr. and the family into the light.

The late Royal Bolling, Sr. was a prominent protagonist in the Age of Brooke and word has reached me that his daughter Thelma Bolling of Oak Bluffs, Boston and Las Cruces, N.M died on August 8 after a prolonged illness.

Always caring and compassionate, Thelma, also known as Sugie and AwRa, was a dedicated probation officer in Springfield and Boston. She provided supportive services to many young adults engaged with the criminal justice system. In her own inimitable way she developed a unusually comprehensive offender profile system that drew broad commendation throughout her department.

Her career was testimony to the family tradition of political and government service to mankind. Having started campaigning at age nine for her father’s first bid for public office, she was especially proud when her father and two brothers made Massachusetts history by holding elective office simultaneously: Royal Sr. as state senator, Royal Jr. as state representative and Bruce as Boston city councilor.

In January of 1987, Thelma and her late husband, David Mayo, welcomed the birth of their son, Justyn, whom they loved and adored. Just six months after this, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Throughout her life she had experienced a range of medical challenges but this would be her toughest fight. At 12 she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. In 2012 she was recognized along with only 330 others across the nation by the Joslin Hospital Diabetes Center for reaching the medical milestone of living 50 years with diabetes. In spite of these medical difficulties she always encouraged everyone to create joy in their lives and live the best of every moment.

Thelma is survived by her son Justyn Mayo; brothers Royal Jr. and wife Marion, Blair, Yom; sisters Carolyn Bolling Hayes, Deborah, Charlene Bolling Holloway and husband Ronald, Andrea; and her sister-in-law Joyce Ferriabough Bolling. A memorial service was held in Las Cruces, N.M. on August 22. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 1 to 4 p.m. in Oak Bluffs. For more details, please contact family members Deborah at 617-893-0963 or Charlene at 617-360-480-4606.

Paradise on earth is the Vineyard experience. Enjoy it as life is fleeting.

Oak Bluffs town news can be sent to rtaylor@mvgazette.com.