With eager anticipation of the last day of school, the Texaco touch tank is back on the dock. It’s shifted just slightly, so more kiddos and adults can surround it and enjoy. Thank you Leona, Faye, Esme, Bennett and Juniper for adding the first batch of creatures. A bevy of crabs, each with a name, were joined by a few little fish and a moderately sized horseshoe crab. The touch tank can certainly be a multi-sensory learning experience, giving folks an opportunity to learn about local marine life with simple amazement and a lot of laughter. Have no fear, the creatures are not held in captivity long as all are returned to the harbor by day’s end.

The West Tisbury School graduated seven students who call Chilmark home. Tauras Biskis, Nate Karlinsky, Liam Littlefield, Ruby Russell, Gabe Slossberg, Thales Viana and Olsen Estrella were all celebrated along with their dozens of classmates at the Agricultural Hall. Pomp and circumstance, student speeches, flowers, photos and a fabulous potluck rounded out the evening’s festivities. Look out high school, here they come.

Creek Hill is busting at the seams this year for the Speck family gathering. I got the whole scoop from Anne, which I will share virtually verbatim. Forrest Speck and Anne Verret-Speck are spending their 42nd June in the Sunset Camp. I first spotted them when they had a quick couple of days all to themselves. Son Stephen and partner Susan joined them early in the month, and now son Teddy, his wife Cailin McFarland and daughters Esmé and Ginny are with them.

Daughter Elizabeth and her husband Skyler Shepard are back in the Tilton House with sons Hal and Wally for two weeks. Son John and his wife, Ariel were able to time their visit from New Orleans to be with the others, necessitating a few days of expansion into The Beach Plum Inn. Anne’s brother and sister-in-law, John and Meg Verret, have graciously provided additional housing to daughter Jenny, husband Adam Sherson and sons Kagan and Forrest. To add to the excitement, Skyler’s dad, stepmom, brother, and sister-in-law are resting their heads at the Fenner-Vukota house. It’s really quite an exciting family get together with a whole bunch of thrilling moving parts.

Andrew Noyes and his three kids Alex, Hayden and Dylan, have been frolicking around town for a spell. They are passing the time, not only with Andrew’s folks Ann and Hal, but with Andrew’s sister Hillary Noyes-Keene, brother-in-law John, nephew Lathrop and a whole bunch more extended family and friends. Bass fishing has been on the list of things to do and — check that box — they’ve done it and been successful. The streams of Colorado may be where they rest their heads most of the year, but the salt water of Vineyard Sound and the mighty Atlantic are places they feel at home.

The life of Islander Don Smith will be celebrated with a graveside memorial service at Abel’s Hill on Monday, June 24 at 1 p.m. All are welcome. Don died the day after Christmas at the age of 95. His nearly century’s worth of life allowed him to accumulate a vast array of experienced that translated into the telling of stories in his later years. Most summers, he could be spotted making the Up-Island rounds, stopping in to check on his kids Hollis, Jeanne, Robin and Russell. His rounds often took him by the Texaco, where he might sit a spell and, as they say, spin a few yarns.

His life took him through serving in both WWII and Korea and, among other things, also led him to commercial fishing and operating the Snackery in Menemsha with his bride Pat (for those who don’t know, it was a predecessor of The Bite). In more recent years, he was one of the great characters who operated the Menemsha Bike Ferry. His presence is missed daily, but he’s still alive tucked away in hearts and minds.