Earning His Wings Under the Hood
Meg Robbins

A mechanic by trade but a pilot by passion, Dan Wilson can be found roaming the skies when he’s not busy taking a wrench to a faulty airplane engine, or completing annual inspections.

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Valedictorian Is Top of the Class but Down to Earth
Sydney Bender

Valedictorian Sarah Ortlip-Sommers was editor of the school newspaper and took more AP classes in a year than most take in four. She calls her violin an extension of herself and credits her parents Michele Ortlip and Josh Summers for her achievements.

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Wind at Her Back, Full Sail Ahead
Ivy Ashe

Casey Blum, 24, is about to embark on her first season as captain of Alabama. She’s the first woman to captain the 90-foot schooner, and the youngest captain to sail Alabama since the ship began its second life on the Vineyard.

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From Wilderness to Pulpit, Listening to Whispers of the Heart
Mollie Doyle

The Rev. Cathlin Baker was staying a small hotel room in Cuba while attending an international women’s rights conference when she heard the call to the ministry.

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A Life Still Lived at Two Speeds; Wow! and What Was That?
Bill Eville

It began with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. Scooby-Doo helped, too.

The year was 1977 and Andy Heyward was in his early 20s working his first real job. Never mind that the job consisted entirely of sweeping out a warehouse and getting his boss sandwiches at the nearby deli. His boss was Joseph Barbera who with William Hanna was essentially the entire cartoon industry at the time.

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On Field and in Classroom, Valedictorian Keeps Eye on the Ball
Ivy Ashe

Skim the record books for the past four years of high school soccer, basketball and baseball, and you’ll notice a recurring name. Skim the grade books at the high school and you’ll notice the name again, this time at the top of the class, in the valedictorian spot for the class of 2013. Who is this Jack Roberts guy?

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Senior Gustavo Simoes Makes the Cut: Center Goes from Futbol to Football
Max Hart

When taken out of context, listening to Gustavo Simoes talk about
football can be quite confusing.

"I played football all the time as a kid in Brazil," the
high school senior and Vineyarders center said after practice Monday.
"And I had seen football on TV, too, but I never played it until I
came here."

Put in context, the confusion is easily sorted out.

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NAACP Leader: Carrying Ideals from South End to Cottage City

Marie Allen is at home in the comfortable study that she built at her Munroe avenue house in Oak Bluffs: a place to read books and listen to the blues, where a carved wooden giraffe peers from behind the couch, African figurines line a tall bookcase and her granddaughter's stuffed toy dog rests on a cushion.

Mrs. Allen also is at home on Martha's Vineyard: an Island where she was married, where her children took their first steps, where her own daughter was married and where she retired about six years ago.

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Michael J. Fox Paces Through Life of Writing
Mike Seccombe

Michael J. Fox, television and movie star, has walked his share of
red carpets over the years. These days, though, he walks a more
nondescript bit of floor covering: a cheap sisal mat in the garage of
his Aquinnah house. Pacing, back and forth, doing laps of the pool table
trying to harness the involuntary energy of his illness. Hours upon
hours of pacing.

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A Quiet Leader, Warren Doty Dedicates Himself to Chilmark
Julia Rappaport

When Warren Doty first moved the Vineyard in the late 1970s, the Menemsha harborfront was booming.

“Then there were five boats landing 10,000 pounds of sea scallops every three days,” he recalled. “There was a work force of ten shuckers in three different shucking shacks. That’s 30 Islanders working on the docks with about fifteen on boats. The season lasted from October to April every year. There were 45 to 50 jobs in Menemsha for six to eight months during the season.

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