Editor’s Note: The following was sent by e-mail to Vineyard Conservation Society members on Wednesday morning this week.

Sadly Bob Woods (Edwin N. Woods) died this morning in Santa Maria, Calif. Although he was 93 and had been in failing health now for a year or so, Bob and his wife Jeanne were still driving back and forth across country (albeit with a daughter at the wheel recently) twice a year until this past summer. Indeed, Bob recalled that when he and his siblings first drove across country with their mother there was only 16 miles of paved roads. At that time they traveled in a bit of a convoy as there were always animals and luggage — their horses came across country by train, were off-loaded in Woods Hole and loaded onto a steamer where a wooden floor would be put down where the horses were accommodated so their hooves wouldn’t slip on the deck — and then from Vineyard Haven they would ride some and lead some to the Retreat on North Road. I am not sure whether any of the kids (Bob, Fred, and Virginia) were born on the Island but they did attend school here back in the 1920s and during World War II the flock of horses — nearly purebred palomino Arabians — remained here in the fields between Music street and the Parsonage Woods. Mrs. Woods particularly loved all animals and one of her projects was to set up a ranch sanctuary in California for retired police horses.

Through the generosity of Bob and Jeanne, the Retreat was placed under a conservation restriction (thanks to Brendan O’Neill and others) some years back and dedicated to the memory of Bob’s mother, Frances Newhall Woods. At that time the acreage — about 523 in West Tisbury and 14 in Chilmark, plus the 20-acre piece conveyed to the Agricultural Society, made the CR (held by the Nature Conservancy) the largest in Massachusetts. Invited to a very high profile Nature Conservancy gathering somewhere in the West to honor such gifts, Bob was asked to make a speech. He responded in his usual modest fashion (probably dressed in his normal casual flannel shirt and farmer jeans) with a very brief speech to the effect that it had always been his mother’s intention to preserve the property, they were following her wishes and doing the right thing, and then he sat down.

As long as I can remember the Woods have been here summers but as their children grew up and married, and after Bob “retired” (slowed down a bit would be more accurate; he never actually retired) from active farming and growing grapes, he and Jeanne would arrive some time in April and spend about six weeks here; then they would be back in the fall for another month or six weeks. Here they would be out fixing fences, cutting back brush, repairing the barn or the dam from the pond on the property, or checking out local businesses and events. The Glass Works, Gannon and Benjamin and art galleries were always regular stops, along with the farmers’ market and local farm stands. Two years ago when the VCS conservator event was at Brookside Farm he and Jeanne were honored guests.

Bob and Jeanne have always been two of my favorite people, and for many of us, real heroes in many ways.

Somewhere VCS has a storyboard display with photos of Bob and the family. It was a prize winner recently at the fair. I hope that we can get it out and display it somewhere (perhaps the West Tisbury Library) in their honor, and definitely it should be at the fair — the 150th this coming year — in his memory. And if we don’t have the blue ribbon that it may have won, I’m sure that Eleanor will loan us one and perhaps we could add a big star.

Virginia Jones lives in West Tisbury.