To my relatives and friends, please accept my wholehearted gratitude for the cards, attendance, flowers, food and respect shown to my son Ricky from the Baptist Church Service to the last ride around Gay Head with all his favorite Hot Rodders.

From the Vineyard Gazette edition of Oct. 23, 1942: The launching of government war craft has taken place along Island shores. The effort is small as compared with those of other places, but bulks with importance in the Island scheme of things, besides having attracted the attention of officials in the nation’s government.

Many thanks go out to Sarah Kuh and the Martha’s Vineyard Health Care Access program for being such sound and steady support in our Island community. Your 18 or so years of service to the residents of Martha’s Vineyard becomes more valuable to us all each year, and it is good to see your leadership in health care recognized.

Recently my husband and I were guests at a small dinner party at a friend’s house. We were meeting the other six people for the first time. One of the women is a documentary filmmaker, one of the guys is a retired CEO of a major company.

With a steady drumbeat of news in recent weeks about student test scores in Vineyard public schools, it feels a little like Lake Wobegon around here lately, where all the children are above average.