Walter E. Bettencourt, a former resident of Chappaquiddick and member of the Vineyard Gazette printing staff for 26 years, died Feb. 5 in Port Charlotte, Fla. He was 80. Mr. Bettencourt began working at the Gazette in 1945 during his junior year in high school, and except for a two-year stint in the Army, he worked at the newspaper continuously during the next 26 years, rising from printer’s devil to head of the back shop. A service is planned for sometime in May. A complete obituary will appear in a future edition of the Gazette.