It was a mixed group that gathered in the Polly Hill Arboretum Saturday night about 5:30 p.m. From this aging grandmother to a six-month-old baby boy, and in between stood six lovely teenaged girls in their colorful prom gowns, contrasting shawls, wrist corsages, makeup, and recently done hair styles. As they stood together in front of a blooming rhododendron bush, bookended by two handsome young teenaged boys, Sal and Josh, in black tuxedos — one with a forest green vest and the other with a silver vest — they giggled and posed for their pre-prom photographs.

call to arms

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the New England Fishery Management Council Herring Advisory Panel on May 11:

Memorial Day 2009

What will the summer bring? This has been on the minds of Islanders throughout the long winter. As sidewalks and farm fields lay frozen beneath endless layers of snow and ice, as the economic downturn cast dark shadows across the nation, as Islanders pulled in their collective horns and counted their pennies along with their blessings — the question hung in the air wherever you went. What will the summer bring?

That Stockbridge Crowd

From Gazette editions of May, 1984:

Tom Thatcher of West Tisbury signed papers that officially sold the Lillian Manter Memorial Youth Hostel on the Edgartown-West Tisbury road to American Youth Hostels, Inc. of Washington and the Metropolitan New York Council in New York city. Mr. Thatcher has owned the hostel since 1968, and had managed it since 1964.

HOSPITAL RESPONDS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I am writing this letter in response to the Gazette’s recent article (April 10) and editorial (April 24) about insurance changes on Martha’s Vineyard.

There were several inaccuracies in these stories that need to be addressed.

Three recurring themes in these stories that I would like to discuss are:

• The hospital has not communicated its plans to Island health care consumers;

Talk of the Town

From Gazette editions of May, 1909: