Barbara Wise, 75, Was Resident of East Chop

Barbara Meleney Wise, 75, of Kilmarnock, Va., and East Chop died June 19 at her home in Virginia with her husband and three children by her side.

Barbara was born April 12, 1930, in Washington D.C., the first of four children, to George and Elizabeth Meleney. She attended the Whitehall School and Sidwell Friends, where she played tennis, field hockey and was literary editor of the Quarterly, graduating in 1948. She then attended her mother's alma mater, Wellesley, and University of Edinborough in Scotland. Barb was graduated from American University in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in English. She was a master tutor with the Kingsbury Center in Washington, D.C., and taught reading at Potomac School in McLean, Va.

The Wises raised their three children in Bethesda, Md., and introduced them to the Vineyard as infants. Barb met her husband in 1946 on the courts of the East Chop Tennis Club, playing on adjacent courts. The story goes that she gave Aust, a newcomer to the Island, a ride to the beach and introduced him to her group of friends. It was then that Aust put off going to basic training for three months so he could stay on the Vineyard for the summer. They built their house on Dudley Avenue in 1967.

Barb, her sisters Helen Meleney and Jane Coe and brother Peter Meleney are third-generation summer residents. Barb summered on East Chop all 75 of her years, and was passionate about many Island activities such as musseling, clamming, crabbing, hiking, sailing, before-breakfast swims and collecting driftwood. Barb shared her knowledge of the Island's best kept secrets off the beaten path. She delighted in finding the best place for a picnic, a swim or a hike.

In the mid-forties, she was the scorekeeper for the East Chop Brewers. She was a well-known member of the East Chop Tennis Club and the East Chop Beach Club. She loved to have her grown children bring their families to the house on Dudley avenue, and would often go off-Island to travel with her husband.

The Wises retired to their home on Dividing Creek in the Northern Neck of Virginia in 1989. They explored the bay in their sailboat Tellin, and Barb was a contributing writer to the Cruising Guide to Chesapeake Bay.

She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Austin D. Wise; daughter and son in law, Ellen and Mark Ausmus of Seattle, Wash.; son and daughter in law, Tim Wise and Kaela Lee of Cambridge; daughter and son in law, Carol and Mark Dalgarn of Greensboro, N.C., and four beloved grandchildren, twins Colby Perkins and Michael Perkins, Jackson Wise, and Eve Lee Schauer.

There will be a memorial service on the Island later this summer.

Memorials may be made to the Riverside Walter Reed Hospice Program, P.O. Box 1130, Gloucester, VA 23061.