John Morelli died Wednesday at his home in Chilmark, just a few short miles from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School where he taught English for nearly half his life.

He loved the drive to work each morning, past the West Tisbury Congregational Church, Alley’s General Store and the Mill Pond, especially during this time of year. The cold, clear fall air — mixed with a cup or two of coffee — energized him for another day of teaching, inspiring and being inspired by his students.

Anthropologists call them social nodes — the places where a community’s social cement is stirred, where folks get to know each other during the spontaneous expression of life’s routine. Our churches, libraries and town halls serve this purpose, of course, but so do more informal locations like our parks, walkways, forest trails, beaches and general stores.

As I knew Lenny Jason he was a working man’s man, a man of strong opinions which he aired freely to anyone who would listen. He always had the working man in mind and especially the fisherman. I remember when Lenny first came to the Island to Menemsha, a town he loved, and made it his home. Lenny was the most ambitious man I knew of. He bought a couple of old hotels in Oak Bluffs that were for sale and to be removed.