Wendy Ann Jones de Geofroy, originally from Wayland, died on Wednesday, Feb. 15, surrounded by family at Tobey Hospital in Wareham. She was five days shy of her 67th birthday.

Wendy was born to the late Wallace Jones and Marydale Dearth on Feb. 20, 1950, the youngest of four. She spent her summers on Lake Winnipesaukee, where she earned lifelong bragging rights as a champion water-skier. She was a self-avowed hippie; she attended Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., but was too busy protesting the Viet Nam War to finish her degree.

At Colby-Sawyer she met Elizabeth Early (now Sheehan), who brought Wendy to spend her first summer on the Vineyard. She instantly fell in love with the Island, and a few months turned into nearly 50 years. With the exception of a brief stint in New Hampshire and two years in Santa Fe, N.M., she spent her entire adult life on the Vineyard. Shortly after moving to the Island, Wendy met Elizabeth’s cousin Charles A. de Geofroy. The two later married and had three children together. They were married for 24 years before parting ways.

Wendy held a variety of jobs: she was a mail clerk at Alley’s General Store, served as town clerk of Chilmark, and operated a computer tutoring business out of her home on North Road in Chilmark. She had a talent for genealogy, which began with a search for her mother’s birth parents and quickly grew into an obsession. A technology enthusiast, Wendy pioneered the use of computers for genealogy research and delighted in finding connections between the important people in her life. She founded an adoption support group on the Island and helped several parents find children they had put up for adoption and vice versa. She finally found her mother’s birth parents after nearly 50 years of searching, a fitting bookend to her life’s work.

She is survived by her three sons, C. Maury de Geofroy of Vineyard Haven, Andrew de Geofroy and his wife, Ashley Mead, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Alexander de Geofroy and his wife, Kate, of Rochester, N.H. She is also survived by her sister, Terry Johnson, of South Berwick, Me. She was predeceased by her brothers, David and Eric.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard, 238 Main street in Vineyard Haven. Her family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the staff of Tobey Hospital for providing comfort to Wendy and her family in her final hours.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Island Food Pantry, P.O. Box 1874, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568, or to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, P.O. Box 1477, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.