Olive Pinney Tilghman died on May 7 at home in White River Junction, Vt. She had struggled courageously since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2001 but always maintained her cheerful but feisty outlook on life.

Olive was born on August 6, 1923 on Staten Island to William W. Pinney Sr. and Margaret MacKenzie Gostenhofer Pinney. The family moved to Summit, N.J. in 1927. For every summer of her life until 2006, Olive was on Chappaquiddick Island. She enjoyed all of the activities that the island provided: sailing, swimming, horseback riding, clamming, making beach plum jelly and family picnics. She was very involved with Chappy Tennis. She organized and managed the Bird Court Tennis Association and then served on the Tilghman Court Tennis Association. She was instrumental in the operation of the annual Chappy Tennis Tournament and a big supporter of the tennis program at the Chappaquiddick Community Center. She followed her father, Peter Pinney, as a board member of Camp Jabberwocky. Most of all, Olive loved a party, any party. But it was her birthday party on Chappy that was the high point of her year.

Olive's Chappaquiddick roots were both deep (part of the fourth of seven generations to summer on Chappy) and broad. Her Chappy cousins included the Childs, Pinneys, Birds, Basses, Gostenhofers, Turnbulls, Joneses, Phinneys and Knights. Twenty-five homes on Chappy have a connection to her extended family, including the home she and Hal built on Chappaquiddick Road on land originally owned by her parents.

She attended Kent Place School in Summit, and was graduated in 1941 from St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Va. The summer before starting her freshman year at Wellesley College, she met her brother's Kent School classmate and Harvard College roommate, Henry A. (Hal) Tilghman. She and Hal became engaged in the spring of 1942, and were married in December. While Hal served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, Olive worked in a public health laboratory.

After the war, Olive and Hal lived in many communities, including Norwood; Southport, Simsbury and Yalesville in Connecticut; South Orange and Gladstone in New Jersey; Charlottesville, Va.; and Norwich and Quechee in Vermont. They occasionally spent extended periods of time on the Vineyard and two of their children were born at Martha's Vineyard Hospital.

After her youngest child was born, Olive resumed her education, first at Upsala College in Newark, N.J., and then at Fairleigh Dickinson, Madison, N.J. from which she was graduated in 1970. Olive taught at kindergartens and pre-schools in Morristown, N.J.; Charlottesville, Va.; and Hanover, N.H. until her retirement in 1986. She and Hal retired in 1989 to Chappaquiddick. As a winter resident, Olive was active in the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club, Edgartown School reading volunteer program, St. Andrews Episcopal Church Altar Guild and Chappaquiddick Community Center. She was a board member of the center and was the original organizer of the pot lucks. Hal and Olive learned that they loved the island for all seasons, not just summer.

Survivors include her husband of 64 years, Hal; her five children, Ruth Tilghman of Brattleboro, Vt., Thomas Tilghman of Lakeland, Fla., Peter Tilghman of Walton-on-Thames, England, Frank Tilghman of Newbury, Vt., and Lois Burriss of Norwich, Vt.; her daughter in laws, Jo-Ann and Jeanne; her son-in-law Reid; 12 grandchildren, Henry, James, Edward, Melissa, Katherine, Laura, Olivia, Carlos, Emile, Gregor, Lucy and Sam; five great-grandchildren, Fletcher, Sarah, Emma, Lily and T.J.; her brother, Bill Pinney of South Dartmouth; and many Chappaquiddick relatives.

A memorial service was held at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich, Vt. on May 12. A Celebration of Her Life Party is being planned at the Chappaquiddick Community Center on August 11. Contributions may be made in Olive's memory to the Chappaquiddick Community Center or St. Andrews Church in Edgartown.