Mary Carr, 88, made a journey back to the Vineyard last Friday. The last time she was here, 67 years ago, war raged in Europe and in the Pacific. It was a time in the nation’s history when people all around her made huge sacrifices. In that year, she lost her husband.

For Mary, this two-day Vineyard visit was a rekindling of fond memories. It was also about Memorial Day and loss and sharing her personal story with others.

Since last we celebrated a Memorial Day, Douglas E. Vanderhoop has become one of the highest decorated veterans in the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). In the annual Ute Tribe’s Fourth of July Pow Wow, Mr. Vanderhoop was initiated into the Red Feather Society, the highest military honor that can be bestowed upon indigenous tribal members in the United States and Canada.

Third grade ain’t what it used to be, and nowhere is this more pronounced than in Deborah Hammett’s class at the Oak Bluffs School, where four state-of-the art iPads arrived this week, thanks to a $2,500 grant from Comcast. The grant was given to support classes that use technology in their work.

What, you might ask, will third graders do with iPads? Lots of things, as it turns out.

John William Beal, of Hingham and Oak Bluffs, was awarded a bachelor of science in government and international affairs and a commission as Ensign in the United States Coast Guard on May 18

Oak Bluffs-born Dr. Thomas Allingham, now of Ridgeland, Miss., was honored as 2011 Alumni of the Year at Cape Cod Community College yesterday.

The 1974 graduate called the college the place where he moved from “lost” to inspired.

Today, Dr. Thomas Allingham is interim chair of the department of anesthesiology, associate professor of surgery and the associate director of the surgical intensive care unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.