Judith Phillips Neeld, a longtime resident of the Vineyard, died on April 18, 2019 at her home in Vineyard Haven. She was 90.

Judith was born on August 24, 1928, in Norwood to Carleton Warburton Phillips and Edith Wilson Phillips. She graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where she met her husband of 53 years, Richard Hoagland Neeld. They married on Sept. 11, 1948 and started their lives together, settling into Madison, N.J., where they would raise their family. She worked at Drew University for 10 years as communications coordinator, then assistant director of public affairs until 1972, when she left to pursue her career as a writer and poet.

In 1974, she launched Stone Country: A Magazine of Poetry, Reviews, and Graphics, which she edited and published for the next 20 years. Devoted to writing, Judith enjoyed wide recognition and in 1984 received the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America for her poem, Her Topography. She also saw six books of her poetry published, including a most recent anthology of her life’s work, compiled by her Island poetry group, the Cleaveland House Poets.

She and her husband moved to the Vineyard in 1982, summering in Menemsha and wintering in Vineyard Haven. Although an avid traveler, she always considered the Vineyard home. Her other interests included birding, cooking, leading wildflower walks, and watching tennis or the Boston Red Sox.

She was predeceased by her husband and her son, Gordon Phillips Neeld. She is survived by her daughter Nancy Neeld Vander Veen of Saint Augustine, Fla., and three grandchildren.

A memorial service, with a reception to follow, will be held on Monday, June 24, at 4 p.m. at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs, preceded by a private graveside service for family at Abel’s Hill Cemetery. Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.

Donations can be made to the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, P.O. Box 1088, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts 02568; the Unitarian Universalist Church of Martha’s Vineyard, 238 Main Street, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts 02568; or to the charity of your choice.