On the second Sunday in December, we took the noon boat from Vineyard Haven to Woods Hole, and well into our car trip I realized that I’d left my sunglasses on the boat. On Monday, I easily got through to Lost & Found and I spoke to John there, explaining the situation and that we wouldn’t be back up until Dec. 20. He told me to call a day ahead of our trip and he would make sure the glasses were waiting for me at the Woods Hole ticket counter.

Of course I forgot to do this. Since the next time we would be on a boat to go off-Island was a Sunday, I kept reminding myself to call John on Friday to arrange to pick up the sunglasses. Once again, I forgot to call. And on this trip back to Woods Hole, I left my back pillow on the boat. This pillow has huge sentimental value. Now I was out my sunglasses and beloved back pillow. I called John again on Monday morning and he had the pillow as well as the glasses. Rather than making me feel more inept than I was already feeling, he instead asked for my address so that he could send these things down to me, rightly sensing that I could well repeat this exercise with yet another precious belonging and another episode of forgetting to call.

The package arrived on Thursday. So I would like to thank John very, very much and to share this story with the Island community, whose understandable frustration with the Steamship Authority is often aired on multiple platforms. Perhaps it reminds us that the SSA is much more than a monolith: it is composed of many people who are thoughtful, kind and helpful — one of whom went out of his way to help and to set my mind at ease.

And if you are curious as to how a back pillow could have huge sentimental value: in 1972, my best friend brought me to the Island for the first time and changed my life forever. She made this pillow before she died. Thank you again, John.

Francie Camper

Aquinnah and Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.