For decades, Patricia Bergeron filled the Portuguese American Club with her enthusiasm and good will.

There were the vibrant annual celebrations that she coordinated as longtime PA Club president: the traditional Portuguese Feast of the Holy Ghost, or the popular Chili Fest competition raising money for the Red Stocking Fund. There were also the more intimate, regular gatherings, such as weekly meetings of the Vineyard Cribbage Club that Ms. Bergeron helped found and lead.

It was no surprise, then, that Tuesday’s gathering at the PA Club to remember Ms. Bergeron, who died last week, along with her partner Roy Scheffer, was packed shoulder to shoulder with Islanders of all ages and walks of life as hundreds came to pay their respects. The couple was scalloping together on New Year’s day when strong winds and a snow squall came in, capsizing their skiff.

The deaths shook the Vineyard community as both Ms. Bergeron and Mr. Scheffer had been pillars of so many facets of Island life.

Paula O'Connor talks about her life with Ms. Bergeron.

Paula O'Connor talks about her life with Ms. Bergeron.

Tuesday’s event at the PA Club focused mostly on Ms. Bergeron, but the entire Scheffer family was also in attendance. A celebration of life for both Ms. Bergeron and Mr. Scheffer will take place at a later time.

Ms. Bergeron was known for a lifetime of service and giving back. She provided daily help for struggling Islanders through her role at the PA Club, and impacted many more as an emergency room unit coordinator at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Current PA Club president Gina deBettencourt, a main organizer of the gathering, told the Gazette she was heartened, but not surprised, by Tuesday’s turnout of several hundred people.

“It was not shocking,” she said. “She impacted so many families.... It was an honor to be her friend.”

Guests brought so many platters of food that nearly every surface at the club was covered. Affixed to a tray of homemade garlic bread was a note that read, “love ya babe.”

Gina deBettencourt and Bertha Blake look on.

Ray Ewing

Gina deBettencourt and Bertha Blake look on.

Ray Ewing

Love letters to Ms. Bergeron, big and small, were everywhere. Ms. deBettencourt asked guests to write down messages in notebooks placed around the hall.

Family and friends of Ms. Bergeron took turns at the microphone, sharing thoughts and memories.

Her daughter, Kristen MacLean reflected on the immense void that Ms. Bergeron’s death had created, both on the Island and in her own family.

“I’ll find comfort in the little things: a song, a smell, a laugh that reminds me of you. On the tough days, I’ll close my eyes and feel your presence, reminding me that you’re still with me,” she said. “I am a strong woman because a strong woman raised me.”

Ms. Bergeron’s son, Thomas Wilkins, wrote a tribute describing her as “the bedrock of his world.” She steadfastly held the family together, he wrote, after his brother, Eric MacLean, died in a car crash in 2001 at age 18.

Crowd spilled outside long into the night.

Ray Ewing

Crowd spilled outside long into the night.

Ray Ewing

“The grief was a weight that could have easily broken anyone, but Mom showed us what true strength looks like,” Mr. Wilkins wrote. “Even as her own heart was breaking, she stood tall for the rest of us. She didn’t let her sorrow turn into bitterness.”

Next to the podium were posters filled with photographs of a smiling Ms. Bergeron — with family, dressed for the Feast of the Holy Ghost, dressed as Santa Claus.

One poster was devoted entirely to the Vineyard Cribbage Club. Photos captured Ms. Bergeron and friends leaning over cribbage boards at long tables, some laughing, some deep in concentration. The top of the poster read: “Tricia’s Cribbage World.”

Ms. Bergeron created the cribbage club alongside Mary Alice Russell, who was at Tuesday’s gathering.

Ms. Russell and Ms. Bergeron were coworkers at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital who grew close over their shared love of cribbage. Ms. Russell dreamed of starting Vineyard Cribbage Club for years before befriending Ms. Bergeron, but she never got it off the ground herself.

Guest books were filled with notes of love.

Ray Ewing

Guest books were filled with notes of love.

Ray Ewing

When she finally told Ms. Bergeron about her idea, the club was up and running within weeks.

“Tricia was my biggest fan. She never let me doubt myself,” Ms. Russell told the Gazette at the service. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”

It was a sentiment shared by many.

Even after Ms. Bergeron stepped down as PA Club president, she was always “front and center in everything,” Ms. deBettencourt and vice president Bertha Blake told the Gazette. They said she worked tirelessly to fund the club’s Holy Ghost Association scholarships — a role that will now need a new leader.

Neither woman was worried, though, about someone stepping up, thanks to Ms. Bergeron’s legacy of rallying the community around important causes.

“I think she touched so many people that they are going to show up in little ways where she might not physically be here,” Ms. Blake said. “Somebody else will because of her.”