Riley Deeble, a longtime resident of West Tisbury, died Feb. 18. He was 94 and had deep Vineyard roots stretching back to his early childhood. For decades he had been known for his clever letters to the Gazette on everything from national politics to the Steamship Authority.

William Riley Deeble 3rd was born in Boston on Feb. 1, 1922, the only child of Katherine Harding Deeble and William R. Deeble. He was delivered by Dr. Goethals, father of Vineyard residents Henry Goethals and his late brother Thomas Goethals, who later would become lifelong friends.

Riley graduated from Yale College and served in the Amphibious Engineers during World War II, piloting 65 and 85-foot-long tugboats in the Mediterranean. Prior to his deployment, he trained for this duty by learning how to pilot troop landing craft off the beaches of Chappaquiddick.

At the end of World War II, he was appointed to the rank of warrant officer, junior grade and was assigned to be an international observer for the elections in Greece. Following his service with the United States government, he became a teacher at the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., where he taught for 41 years.

Riley was fully involved in the life of the school, and over the course of his career he taught history, English and French. But he was primarily a teacher of history, a subject in which he had encyclopedic knowledge. He served as the advisor to student publications for 30 years and chaired the discipline committee for the last five years of his career.

In an era where faculty were teachers first and coaches second, Riley was actively involved in the school’s athletic program, serving as head coach of the varsity wrestling team for 25 years and its assistant coach for 10 years. He coached cake (beginning level) football for 25 years, which he enjoyed greatly. For each of the three sports he coached (tennis was the third) he took the same approach, aiming first to teach the fundamentals and second to win. In recognition of his contributions to athletics, he was inducted into the high school’s athletics hall of fame in 2013, 21 years after his retirement.

Riley was an avid sailor and had many stories about sailing his boat to and from Virginia, races on the Sound as a teenager and as an adult, along with an inexhaustible supply of nautical lore. He took a keen interest in current events, especially on the Vineyard, and wrote frequent letters to the Gazette, always signing them W.R. Deeble. The first one was printed in 1948, the last one three weeks before his death.

Riley first arrived just as he was learning to walk. His Vineyard stories from the 1920s and 1930s included one that involved a childhood friend who painted out every other letter in his boat’s name, as his friend didn’t consider Beach Plum, a name chosen by his mother, suitable. And so the Bah Pu sailed the high seas around the Vineyard, as recounted by Riley. He also told the story of General Brown posting Off Limits signs around his house when the Army was training during World War II, and later recalled helping to build the new Agricultural Hall. He participated in the Conversations group at Howes House religiously, and greatly enjoyed the topics and the people in the group.

Riley outlived many of his contemporaries and generation. His family became the next generation of cousins and their children, and Riley grew closer to some of his former students, who came to visit him on the Vineyard or were in touch by telephone. He also had many close friends on the Vineyard and treasured each of them.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 5, at Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven at 11 a.m. Interment will be in the Lambert’s Cove Cemetery in West Tisbury, with military honors offered by the Veterans of Martha’s Vineyard. A reception will follow in the parish hall. A memorial service is being planned for summer.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Riley’s name to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, P.O. Box 1477, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.

Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs. Visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com for an online guest book and information.