West Tisbury select board member Kent Allen Healy died peacefully on Oct. 31, surrounded by his family and friends. He was 89.

Kent was born in New Haven to Ruth Emily Allen Healy and Kent Tenney Healy on Sept. 30, 1932, the third of his four siblings. He attended the Foote School and Hotchkiss Preparatory School prior to being accepted at Yale University.

Following his first and final year at Yale, Kent began work on the island he would eventually call home. From March to June of 1952, Kent worked as an oyster fisherman for Quansoo Fishery. Two months later, he joined the Coast Guard and served from 1952 to 1956.

During this time, he happened upon teenage hitchhiker Maureen Flanders. Kent and Maureen wed in November of 1957 and spent 64 years rarely leaving each other’s side. Together they raised five children: William, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Samuel and Allen.

While embracing his new role as father and husband, Kent found time to complete his studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a doctorate in civil engineering from the latter. In 1964, Kent returned to Connecticut with his young family and begin his professorship at University of Connecticut, where he would teach civil engineering for the next two decades.

His concern for the environment informed all of his endeavors, and sprung from deeply humanist sensibilities.

The family spent every summer at a camp on Quansoo road, which was powered by windmills and solar panels long before such environmentalist measures became commonplace. Upon his death, Kent held the honor of most senior founding member of the esteemed Union of Concerned Scientists.

In 1983, Kent and Maureen made the island their permanent home. While continuing his instrumental work off-island on such projects as the Rhode Island Jamestown Bridge, he gradually established his private engineering practice and his prominent role in West Tisbury and the Martha’s Vineyard community. Out of his own volition Kent measured and tracked the Vineyard water tables for more than 50 years and supervised the health of the Tisbury Great Pond.

Kent will be remembered for his unwavering generosity, gentle disposition and devotion to the well-being of his neighbors. He joyfully dispensed his invaluable knowledge and wisdom upon anyone who found themselves in need of his expertise. He provided countless hours of affordable consulting services. In exchange, he seldom wanted for eggs, oysters, cord wood or wild blueberries.

He was predeceased by five months by his beloved wife of 64 years, Maureen Flanders Healy, and by his dear brother Willie Healy four years ago.

He is survived by his loving sisters, the Reverend Ruth Healy of Stone Mountain, Ga. and Sylvia Healy Lipnick of New Haven; dear family friend Judy Elmer of Vineyard Haven; children Bill Healy of Chilmark, Beth Healy and her husband Anthony of Vineyard Haven, Jon Healy and his wife Lisa of Chilmark, Sam Healy and his wife Megan of Melrose, Allen Healy and his wife Caitlin of Chilmark; grandchildren Alayna Cohen, Jonathan Cohen, Quinn Healy, Troy Healy, Molly Healy, Keith Healy, Everett Healy and Kent Healy; a multitude of nieces and nephews on both the Healy and Flanders sides; and many deeply appreciated friends.

A celebration of Kent and Maureen’s lives will be held at the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall on Dec. 4 at noon. The family requests that attendees be vaccinated.