Community
On Sunday, April 7, at 7 p.m. The Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center will observe Holocaust Remembrance Day with a service to commemorate the memory of those who perished in Europe during the Holocaust, including two-
thirds of the European Jewish population as well as millions of Roma (Gypsies), Slavs, political and religious dissidents, the handicapped, and gays and lesbians.
Two young West Tisbury families were the happy winners in a lottery held this week for two new affordable homes.
Spencer Binney and Lizzy Kent, their baby daughter Willow and her brother Levi will move into a home at 619 Edgartown-West Tisbury Road next month. Jason and Darcy Neago and sons Tristan and Griffin will be their next-door neighbors.
Andrew Woodruff kicked at the dirt at Whippoorwill Farm on a recent afternoon. The soil felt familiar, but he stomped on it a few times to make sure it was good and grounded, twisting himself into place.
“Today is a beautiful day and spring is around the corner,” Mr. Woodruff, 50, said squinting into the sun. “It’s definitely a fresh start to a new beginning for Whippoorwill Farm.”
Anthony Lewis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who brought his passion for justice and free speech to a career spanning more than a half century, died Monday. A long-time seasonal resident of West Tisbury, he was 85.
Mr. Lewis died of complications of heart and renal failure at his Cambridge home, said his wife, Margaret H. Marshall, former chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court. Private services were held Wednesday, the day he would have turned 86.
A memorial service is planned for 3 p.m., May 23, at The Memorial Church at Harvard University.
Elisha R. Smith, an Oak Bluffs farmer for more than three-quarters of a century and for more than two decades the president of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society, died last Friday at his home in Vineyard Haven at the age of 90. It was thanks to his determination, hard bargaining and skill at dealing with people that, in 1992, the society acquired the land that is the site of today’s Agricultural Hall. The acquisition of that West Tisbury Panhandle property where the annual fair is held was one of the proudest moments of his life, Elisha Smith said.
Twelve-year-old Liam F. McCarthy of Vineyard Haven was honored last Saturday at a fundraising dinner at the Holy Ghost Society in Oak Bluffs. Through the efforts of many, the dinner raised $5,000.
Liam and his family were seeking financial help to cover the cost of a walking aid, a device that will make movement easier, plus a three-wheeled bicycle. Neither purchases are covered by insurance, his mother Kelly McGuiggin said. For her, the evening dinner offered hope.