As most everyone knows by now, the Visiting Nurse Service, the former nursing agency of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, announced in March that it would be closing its doors effective June 30. The Vineyard Nursing Association, upon learning of the unexpected closing, began working with Sharon Claus-Zanger, the VNS clinical director, and others to create a plan to move care for 70 patients to Vineyard Nursing Association home care by the end of June.

The following remarks were spoken to family and friends following the death of Wendy Jenkinson Weisman.

I’m Wendy’s father.

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. My Wendy, our Wendy, your Wendy is dead. There’s a tremendous amount of things I could tell you about Wendy; her love of her friends and family, her loyalty, her beauty, her sunny disposition, her many talents, her intellect, all the things she’s done and accomplished in her life, but today I just want to focus on her incredible bravery.

Oral health is an essential component of overall health. Nearly half of all children have experienced dental decay by the time they reach the third grade. Nationally, 51 million school hours are lost each year due to dental disease. For children, poor oral health can interrupt life’s most basic activities, such as eating, sleeping, speaking and learning. In adulthood, the consequences become more severe. Dental disease is associated with stroke, heart disease, complications with diabetes, and the delivery of premature babies.

CLOCK REPAIR

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

In light of the devastating fire on Main street Vineyard Haven, I think it would be a great civic gesture if NStar would find a live circuit that could be used for a temporary feed to the Bunch of Grapes clock. This would provide an instant symbol of renewal, both for the town and for the owners that have lost so much.

Robert D. Woerpel

Vineyard Haven

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WORK YET TO DO

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Hedline

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of July, 1958:

Ever hear of the Demarcation Point?

The map will show it on the top side of Alaska, near the Siberian border. That is where Capt. Stephen Cottle of Chilmark, commanding the steam whaler Belvedere, picked up the crew of the wrecked Elvira, one of the vessels in Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s expedition, on a July day in 1907.

Having lived on the Vineyard for over four years (these stretches of time sometimes get hazy on the Vineyard watch) I realized I had never been a passenger from the mainland to the Island on the Fourth of July.