Interviews with Islanders this week following the death of David McCullough on Sunday at the age of 89 reveal a man who cared deeply about those he knew well and those he did not know at all.

I did a lot of interviews during my three and a half years working at the Vineyard Gazette.

I think in some ways this beautiful place where we live is one of the most important places in the country.

David McCullough, a towering force in American literature and biography, winner of the President’s Medal of Freedom, two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards, died on August 7.

A man, 85 years old with far more than a century of stories to tell, walked toward a small shed behind his humble, white-shingled house on Music street. David McCullough had another story to tell.