Sanford Norton Earle and Charlotte Forster Earle, longtime summer residents of West Tisbury, and Venice, Fla., died peacefully in their sleep on April 10 and April 22 respectively at the Venice Regional Hospital.

Sandy and Char ­— as they were known to their many friends — lived a lifelong love story, first meeting as neighbors in Great Neck, N.Y. in the 1930s. They attended grade school and high school together and then started dating after their first year at college, with Sandy often leaving Colgate University on weekends to sneak over the Canadian border to visit Charlotte at the University of Western Ontario and vice-versa.

After graduation, they married on Sept. 29, 1951. Sandy introduced his bride to the Vineyard that he so loved as a third-generation Islander, and she fell equally in love with all that this beautiful place has to offer. They shared a love of music, world travel, sailing and adventures with friends as well as entertaining their family at their homes in Florida, the Vineyard and on family reunion cruises.Sandy was an accomplished singer and music was a lifelong passion. He spent his childhood summers at his father’s cottage on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven where he honed his sailing skills and worked as a soda jerk at Yates Drug Store on Main street. After spending a high school post-graduate year at Tabor Academy in Marion, he joined the US naval ready reserves where he served throughout his four years at Colgate before completing his military service with two years of active duty in the US Navy before receiving an honorable discharge in 1953.

After spending five years with Liberty Mutual Insurance as a claims investigator, he joined the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. in 1958 where he would spend the rest of his professional career. He was a longtime member of the Stony Brook, N.Y. volunteer fire department both a firefighter and administrator for the department. His many hobbies besides singing included bowling, banjo, stamp collecting, bridge and obtaining his private pilot’s license. Later in life, as a longterm lung problem reduced his activity level, he took up needlepoint, winning a few ribbons at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair for his work.

Charlotte was also an accomplished professional. After graduating and raising their three children, she began a long high school teaching career in the field of business education, first for the Setauket School and later at Ward Melville High School on Long Island. She obtained her master’s degree in education from SUNY Stony Brook. She played the organ and gave lessons in her home to many neighborhood children. She also taught sewing classes to the girls in the local 4-H Club.

While on the Vineyard, Charlotte played in the bell choir at the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury. She was an outstanding calligrapher, cook, and gardener and was involved in many charities. She and Sandy sailed often on their boat named The Melody and were members of the Setauket Yacht Club.

They enjoyed being a part of the congregations at the Venice Methodist Church and the West Tisbury First Congregational Church and were longtime congregants of the Stony Brook Community Church on Long Island. They will forever be remembered as generous, compassionate and caring people. Their greatest love was always to spend time with each other, usually holding each other’s hands.

Sandy and Charlotte are siurvived by their three children, Pamela Earle Raschella of Belington, W.Va., Sanford N. Earle Jr. of Jasper, Ga., and William C. Earle of Venice, Fla., as well as six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. They are also survived by their niece Kelley Jeffreys and nephew Ed Earle.

A celebration of their life and love will be held at the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury at 1 p.m. on Sept. 29 (what would have been their 67th wedding anniversary) followed by a reception at their beloved Blue Anchor House at 703 Old County Road, West Tisbury. Friends are welcome to attend the service and the reception.

Internment at the family plot in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven will be private. Memorial gifts can be directed to the First Congregational Church, P.O. Box 3000, PMB 3111, West Tisbury, MA 02575.