Charles Lamont Post Jr. Was Veteran, Accountant

Charles Lamont Post Jr., 74, of Vineyard Haven died at his home in the early morning of Nov. 24.

Charlie, as he was known to his friends and family, was a year-round resident of Martha's Vineyard for the last 22 years. As a stoic and deeply contemplative man who valued his privacy and solitude, he seldom left the Island, earning himself the respectfully humorous title of "Honorary Islander" among his Island friends.

Born on August 27, 1929, in Manhattan, N.Y, to Jane Elizabeth Kelly Post and Charles Lamont Post Sr. (both of New York), Charlie had his early education in the city and his secondary education at the Salisbury School in Connecticut and the St. James' School in Maryland. He was introduced to the Vineyard at an early age, as his parents were longtime summer residents of Edgartown, for many years renting what was known as the Ambrose House on South Water street.

The Posts were members of the Edgartown Yacht Club, where Charlie developed his nautical skills, later sailing for the EYC in the annual regatta. After initially attending college in Indiana, Charlie enlisted in the Air Force and was eventually stationed in Bakersfield, Calif., during the Korean conflict, serving as an adjunct to the military court. Upon his honorable discharge from the service, he enrolled at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where his major was cost accounting. He met and married Julia Antoinette Parker, daughter of Katharine Danziger Parker and Morgan Merrell Parker of Grosse Pointe, Mich., and Fairhope, Ala. The couple made their home in Simsbury, Conn., where they raised two children: a daughter, Elizabeth Randolph Post, born April 7, 1965, and a son, Lamont Chandler Post, born Feb. 7, 1968.

Charlie worked at the Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford, and finished both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Hartford, in business and criminal justice administration, respectively. Charlie and Julia were divorced in 1975, and he moved to Houston, Tex., to pursue his career in cost accounting.

Charlie returned to live full-time on the Vineyard in 1982, settling in Vineyard Haven, and volunteered 10 years of service to the Superior Court in Edgartown, where he met two of his closest friends of later years, Ms. Rosemarie Haigazian, Esq., of Edgartown, and Harold Hill of Oak Bluffs. Some of Charlie's happiest moments were spent fishing, on the boat he shared with Mr. Hill.

In his last nine years, and to the end of his last illness, Charlie was very fortunate to have had the compassionate caregiving of and friendship with Ms. LuAnna Pinkham of Vineyard Haven.

He is survived by his former wife, Julia of Simsbury, Conn., and their two children, Elizabeth of Washington, D.C., and Lamont of Boston. He was laid to rest under a twin oak tree in Oak Grove Cemetery, Tisbury, on Nov. 25. A private service was held for the immediate family, close friends and caregivers, presided over by the Rev. Alden Besse.

Donations may be made to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard, P.O. Box 2549, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557. Funeral arrangements are under the care of Chapman, Cole, and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.