The death of Calvin Coolidge was the occasion for much sorrow and sympathy on the Vineyard. The former president had visited the Island many times and several Vineyarders had close ties of friendship and association with him over a period of years. Ulysses E. Mayhew of West Tisbury served with Mr. Coolidge in the state house of representatives in 1907 when the future president was beginning his legislative ecperience.

 

Thomas A. Dexter of Edgartown, at that time on the state police force, served as Mr. Coolidge’s body guard and was his warm friend in the days when Mr. Coolidge was governor.

 

As lieutenant governor and governor, Mr. Coolidge visited the Vineyard for the annual Governor’s Day observances at Oak Bluffs, and he was on friendly terms with most of the men in life here.

 

More recently, Mr. Coolidge’s tie with the Island had been through his visits to Mohu, summer home of William M. Butler at Lambert's Cove. Mr. Butler was one of Mr. Coolidge's closest friends and advisers, and the former president was an occasional guest here for some years. Mr. Coolidge did not visit the Vineyard during his term of office as president, although he did come while he was vice president.