A bright light in the Vineyard landscape stopped glowing when Paula Black died at home in the early morning of Oct. 12, 2009. Her 11-year fight with breast cancer, in which she won many battles, finally eclipsed her brilliance.

Born in Elsmere, Del., on June 26, 1953, she was one of eight children: six boys and two girls, the child of Helen and Paul Martin. She attended and graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1971.

She came to the Vineyard in 1979 to work for just the summer, but she was seduced by the Vineyard’s alluring powers, and she never left. Like many other Vineyarders, she worked a range of jobs, from being a milkmaid at Nip and Tuck Farm, to working at Gannon and Benjamin to cleaning houses. She shone the brightest at the West Tisbury Public Library, where she radiated to the fullest like a full-plumed peahen.

Paula loved the people she worked with and the people she served. She had eclectic interests including raising canaries, growing orchids and beekeeping. She loved reading books and running. She ran in many road races on the Vineyard, and in Falmouth and Delaware. She loved biking and walking. She knitted, sewed and made braided rugs. A vegetarian throughout her adult life, she chose to love animals and not to eat them. Though she had many interests, she devoted most of her time to her marriage of almost 38 years to her husband, Michael Black, who cherished her immensely.

With her beaming smile and infectious attitude, she will continue to glow and radiate in the hearts and memories of the people she touched, like the warmth and glow of a hearth long after its fire has been extinguished.

A tree dedication will be held to celebrate Paula’s birthday on Saturday, June 26, at 5 p.m. at the West Tisbury Library. All are welcome; please bring a favorite finger food if you would like.

In lieu of flowers, Michael suggests that donations be made to the West Tisbury Library gift fund.