6:38 pm, April 23, 2016
The Edgartown planning board unanimously approved a temporary mobile telephone tower on Chappaquiddick, clearing the way for greatly expanded coverage for AT&T cell phones beginning this summer.
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Temporary Chappy Cell Tower Clears Final Approval
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Tisbury Town Election Is Tuesday
10:25 am, April 25, 2016
Tisbury voters will head to the polls Tuesday for the annual town election, which includes a ballot question to approve funding for a feasibility study toward a new Tisbury school. Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. at the town emergency services facility.
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Town Seeks Court Action Against West Tisbury Trash Hauler Over Violations
9:15 am, April 25, 2016
The West Tisbury building inspector will seek action in court against a local trash hauler for repeated violations that have gone unanswered.
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Robert Plante, World War II Veteran, Avid Reader, Runner, Traveler
Monday, April 25, 2016 - 1:50pm
Robert A. Plante of Falmouth died Friday, April 22 of natural causes. He was 93 and the loving husband of the late Ruth E. (Ruthie) Plante for 58 years.
Bob was born in Fall River on Sept. 21, 1922 and as a teenager moved to Martha’s Vineyard with his family.
He served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. He was based in Italy and received many medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. Following the war, he attended Brown University and pursued a career as a design sonar engineer.
Bob was an avid reader throughout his life. He enjoyed bicycling, walking and running, completing the Falmouth Road Race 13 times. Twice he and Ruthie walked from Falmouth to Provincetown, just for fun. They enjoyed traveling and visited Europe, Australia, and Alaska, and took many cross-country trips with their camper.
He is survived by his children: Robert Plante and his husband John of Ventura, Calif.; Patricia Donovan and her husband Steve of Vineyard Haven; Joanne Plante of Falmouth; and Leslie Plante of Mashpee.
Visiting hours will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 5 at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home at 475 Main street in Falmouth. A graveside service will be private.
An online guestbook is available at ccgfuneralhome.com.
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Falmouth Nonprofit Assumes Stewardship of Nobska Light
2:01 pm, April 25, 2016
Nobska Light in Falmouth, a familiar landmark on the ferry route between Woods Hole and the Vineyard, is being transferred to the town of Falmouth and the care of a new nonprofit group, Friends of Nobska Light.
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Edward Setterberg, Devoted Father and Athlete, Enjoyed Sailing on the Vineyard
Monday, April 25, 2016 - 2:05pm
Edward Lynn Setterberg of Greenwich, Conn. and Tashmoo Farm died April 17. He was 43.
He was an alumni of Deerfield Academy and Miami University in Ohio.
Ed was a devoted father who could be found cheering his daughters on at swim meets or jumping on his bike to take them to the park for ice cream. He was a gifted musician and loved spending quiet moments strumming his guitar and singing whatever inspired him.
He owned and operated a contracting business, which catered to the close knit communities of Larchmont, N.Y. and Mamaroneck, N.Y. His employees had been with him for over 20 years and had encouraged him to strike out on his own in the beginning.
Ed was an avid outdoorsman who loved fishing, golfing, and boating on Martha’s Vineyard, his second home. He was very athletic and enjoyed sports of any kind. He was an early adopter of CrossFit and the longest running member of the CrossFit Stamford box. He also finished the Tough Mudder Mud Run.
Ed’s wit and humor connected him to everyone. He was larger than life to his family and swept his wife off her feet. He led a beautiful, blessed life and enriched the lives of people he met with his contagious smile and thoughtful attitude.
He is survived by his wife, Michell (Metzke), and his daughters Paige and Brooke. He is also survived by a large supportive family.
A memorial service will be held on May 14 at 2 p.m. at Christ Church Greenwich in Greenwich, Conn.
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Finding the Power in That Purple Rain to Hold Nothing Back
3:24 pm, April 25, 2016
At the college radio station where I worked at Rollins College, the poster hung on the wall. Prince hadn’t broken wide when his song Controversy found WPRK.
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Herbert Mercier, Longtime Edgartown Businessman, Familiar Face at K.T. Galley's
Monday, April 25, 2016 - 3:58pm
Herbert Randolph Mercier Jr. died peacefully on April 23 at his home in Edgartown, surrounded by his family. He was 84.
Born on April 29, 1931 in Cambridge, he was the son of Herbert Mercier Sr. and Veronica Schultz. At the age of three, his family moved to Martha’s Vineyard. He attended the college prep school of Bridgton Academy in Maine. On the day of his graduation from Bentley College, June 16, 1951, he married the love of his life, Claire Fournier, of New Bedford.
Herbert and Claire built a home on Cooke Street in Edgartown and over the years had nine children. To provide for his family, Herbert owned and operated a number of businesses including K. T. Galley Construction and Hardware Store, Mercier and Sons Hardware, and Herby Derby’s Ice Cream Shop. Herbert also worked in the Oak Bluffs town accountant’s office. Even after retiring at age 78, he continued as bookkeeper for Edgartown Marine.
He was an active member of the school committee and an Edgartown assessor. In 1973 he received his pilot’s license and flew his family and friends in the planes that he owned for over 20 years. One of his greatest adventures was flying to California and back with his wife, Claire, in his single-engine plane. Herbert was a devoted member of the Catholic Church and was honored with the Marian Medal for his service. Many have been recipients of his Christian generosity.
His loved ones will always remember him as the beacon of light that guided the expansive Mercier family with his love, knowledge, support and humor — and for that, they are forever grateful. No family member will be able to watch Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, old westerns, or a Duke basketball game without a happy memory of him.
He is survived by his wife Claire; his sons and daughters Jeanne and her husband Barry, Herbert 3rd (Randy) and his wife Katheryn (Kathy), Paul, Peter, Patricia, Patrick and his wife Christine, Philip and his wife Susan, Paulee and her husband Douglas; 29 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and his brother Laurence. He was predeceased by his daughter Suzanne.
Visiting hours will be held at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs on Thursday, April 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Edgartown on Friday, April 29 at 11 a.m., with a graveside service following at the West Side Cemetery in Edgartown. Immediately following the graveside service, the family invites everyone to a reception at the Portuguese-American Club in Oak Bluffs. Please bring a dish to share.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Herbert’s memory to Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. P.O. Box 1748, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.
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Blooming Art Becomes Annual Event
4:17 pm, April 25, 2016
The Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club’s Blooming Art Show, which pairs flowers and artwork, will become an annual event.
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Labyrinth at Felix Neck
4:40 pm, April 25, 2016
The newest addition to Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary is a labyrinth built by an Americorps crew and other volunteers.
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Chilmark Says No to Beer and Wine, Yes to Plastic Bag Ban
11:27 pm, April 25, 2016
Chilmark has become the fourth Island town to adopt a ban on single-use plastic bags, and will remain the last town on the Island not to allow beer and wine to be sold in restaurants, following the annual town meeting Monday night.
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Jeanne Campbell Cherished Island Life, Left Her Mark in Many Ways
Tuesday, April 26, 2016 - 11:04am
Jeanne Van Leer Campbell, a longtime seasonal resident of Martha’s Vineyard, died peacefully in Newton on March 19, five months after she learned she had pancreatic cancer.
She was born in Mobile, Ala., on Dec. 4, 1926. Her father, Leon K. Van Leer, founder of Van Leer Chocolate Corporation of Jersey City, N.J., was born in Rotterdam, Holland in 1899 and married Myra Eichberg of Mobile, Ala. They moved from Mobile to New York city in the early 1930s, and then to Glen Ridge, N.J., in 1940. Jeanne graduated from Glen Ridge High School in 1944, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. in 1948. She worked for several years as a successful copywriter for NW Ayer, later working from home. She and her husband Malcolm Oliver Campbell raised their family in Montclair, Verona and Glen Ridge, N.J. In 2013, they moved to Newton to be closer to their children.
Jeanne first began to love Martha’s Vineyard when she stayed in Chilmark for a weeklong vacation in 1966. She and her husband returned yearly for a few weeks at a time until they bought land and built a small summer home in Spring Point in 1974. Since 1986, they have cherished and participated in Island life for at least five months of every year in their Vineyard Haven home.
During 50 years on the Vineyard, up to and including her last summer on the Island in 2015, Jeanne canoed, swam, walked, gardened, wrote, photographed and found ways to make her mark. She was devoted to the Featherstone Center for the Arts, the Garden Club, Polly Hill Arboretum and Camp Jabberwocky. She had many showings in several local galleries, offered well-researched travel slide shows every summer, contributed to the Vineyard Conservation Society, Tisbury Waterways, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the YMCA, Trustees of Reservations and Slip Away Farm on Chappaquiddick, among others.
Jeanne greatly appreciated the care that Dana Farber and then Hospice gave her in her final months. Even as she lost strength and mobility and became confined to her bed, this previously active woman said, “I love my life!”
She was predeceased by her husband of 63 years in December 2014. She is survived by her brother Maurice Theodore Van Leer of Lexington, Va.; sons Bruce and Lee Campbell and their children; her daughter Jan Campbell and her children; and friends and family of every generation from many states and countries.
A service and celebration of her life will be held at the Featherstone Center for the Arts on Martha’s Vineyard on May 14 at 11 a.m. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP to jan72361@yahoo.com.
She asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to The Dorothy L. Gilbert Fund at Guilford College in her memory.
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West Tisbury Town Column: April 29
2:51 pm, April 26, 2016
Sunday is the first of May, when baskets may be hung on your door and May pole celebrations and dances announce the arrival of warmer weather and send old Jack Frost on vacation.
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Oak Bluffs Town Column: April 29
2:55 pm, April 26, 2016
Oak Bluffs’ Hiacoomes was the first “Christian Indian and Minister on Martha’s Vineyard” as attested by the Reverend Experience Mayhew (1672 – 1758). The reverend was the grandson of Thomas Mayhew Jr., the first Englishman to successfully proselytize a member of a tribe, perhaps anywhere.
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School Spending Dispute Rears Its Head Again Up-Island
3:06 pm, April 26, 2016
Tension over spending at the Chilmark School resurfaced this week, when the up-Island regional school committee revisited the topic of how to pay for heating system repairs at the school from last fall.
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Inaugural Summer Concert Series Plans Star-Studded Lineup
3:54 pm, April 26, 2016
The Martha’s Vineyard Concert Series will feature, among others, Alan Cumming, Erin Brockovich, Paula Poundstone and the return of David Sedaris. Adam Epstein is the producer.
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Coast Guard to Conduct Air Drill South of the Vineyard
4:11 pm, April 26, 2016
Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod is planning to conduct an extensive mishap response drill Wednesday south of Martha’s Vineyard.
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Barred Owls and Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds
8:32 pm, April 26, 2016
Four different sightings of barred owls within one week is totally unexpected.
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Tisbury Voters Approve School Funding
11:31 pm, April 26, 2016
Tisbury voters backed an $825,000 feasibility study toward a new town elementary school at the annual town election Tuesday, which saw low turnout and no contested races.
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Race for Library Trustee Tops Chilmark Town Election
11:26 am, April 27, 2016
Polls are open from noon to 8 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center for the annual town election. In the lone contested race, Carol (Candy) Shweder and Zoe Thompson are vying for a three-year term on the library board of trustees.
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