Obituaries & Death Notices

Erica M. Ponte, 45, of Oak Bluffs, died on March 2, 2019, at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Erica leaves behind her husband, Kenny, and her children, Hunter, Shelby, and Jake. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 6, at 1:30 pm in the West Tisbury Congregational Church, State Road in West Tisbury. A... ...

WELLFLEET – The victims of this month’s fatal fire in Wellfleet have been identified through their obituaries. Fred Kral, Jr., 77, and his wife of 53 years, Cathleen (Cronin) Kral died in the March 11 blaze in their home on Lieutenant Island. According to their online obituary, the two met in eighth grade and were... .

Farming is a personal pastime, the relationship between farmer, the land and the livestock is a sacred bond, and the image of a taciturn farmer riding a tractor in the early morning sunrise or stooped low among the crops is an enduring one. But farming is also communal. What grows and is nurtured on a small farm is then passed on to the community, literally. A farm's vistas are also shared, the rolling fields, when blooming or lying fallow, are a feast for the eyes…

SOUTH WELLFLEET — The two people who died in a fire on Lieutenant Island last week have been identified as the property’s homeowners, Cathleen and Ferdinand Kral.The Krals, who were identified in their obituaries, died early in the morning on March 11 in a fire that leveled their two-story home, leaving heaps of blackened rubble. The home is located at 65 4th Street on the far end of the island.Firefighters responded to…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 10:48am Evelyn Marie Simpson died on February 26, at Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. She was predeceased by her husband Ellsworth W. Simpson Jr. Evelyn was born in Tisbury on Jan. 28, 1944 to the late Fannie and Manuel C. Sylvia. There will be a graveside service at the Oak Grove Cemetery, 299 State Road, Vineyard Haven, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 30.

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 9:08am Harriet Drusilla (Greene) Hickie died on Nov. 11 2018 surrounded by her family. She was the beloved wife of the late William Wesley Hickie, mother of Thomas L. Hickie and daughter in law Judy of Marshfield, and Kathleen Glinos and son in law Jac of Phillippi, West Va. Born in North Tisbury on July 15, 1921 she was daughter of the late Louis M. Greene also known as Farmer Greene to Islanders and Zelma (Adams) Greene. Dru was educated…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 9:07am Grace Nutt Smith passed away unexpectedly on Monday, March 4 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, surrounded by family and friends. Grace was born on May 27, 1942 to the late Vincent A. and Jean Taylor Nutt in Burlington, Vt. It was in the halls of Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, Conn. that she met Ray Smith in 1958, whom she would marry after graduating from Albertus Magnus College in 1964. Grace and…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 9:05am Dr. Charles A. (Chuck) Ratté, geologist, author, educator and devoted father and husband, died at his home in Saxton’s River on Feb. 20, after a brief illness, days shy of his 92nd birthday. Always a man of gentle disposition, humility and quiet confidence, his profession immersed him in nature’s incalculable violence: earthquakes, volcanoes, shifting tectonic plates and the advance and retreat of ancient glaciers and pre-historic…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 8:47am Edwin G. Reade, Jr. died on March 15 in his home at the Lathrop Retirement Community in Easthampton. He was 98, and his daughter Kate and son in law Josh were at his side. Reade grew up in Watertown, Conn., spent his teaching and coaching career at Deerfield Academy and in retirement split his time between Vineyard Haven and Tampa before moving to Easthampton in 2015. Reade was born in 1921 to Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Reade in Watertown,…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 8:45am Rachael Houston of Vineyard Haven died on March 15 at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital surrounded by her loving family and friends. Rachael was born in Falmouth on Dec. 9, 1971, attended the Tisbury Elementary School and graduated from MVRHS. She was an avid animal lover, and rode horses at Featherstone Farm in exchange for cleaning stalls and paddocks, which she enjoyed as well. She dog and house sat for some wonderful people who lived…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 8:42am Charles Francis Caley 3rd, Danny to his mother and siblings, Dan to the rest, aged 80, died on March 14 at the home he shared with his wife of 57 years, Joan Marie Caley, nee Goldman, in Jamestown, R.I. Dan was born on Oct. 28, 1938 in New Haven, Conn. to Charles F. Caley Jr. and Kathleen, nee Callahan. He was raised in West Hartford and was a graduate of William F. Hall High School. His early life seems to have been a long series of…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 8:40am Seth F. Wakeman of Stonington, Conn. died unexpectedly on Saturday, March 9 at the age of 88, the result of an unexpected accident in Mystic, Conn. He was the loving husband of 35 years to Joanna “Joey” (Cochrane) Wakeman who also died due to the unexpected accident on March 9. Born in Springfield and raised in Northampton, Seth enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving four years and honorably discharged…

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 8:37am Joanna (Cochrane) Wakeman, 78, a resident for 18 years of Stonington, Conn. died Saturday, March 9, the result of an unexpected accident in Mystic, Conn.  Affectionately known as “Joey” to her family and friends, she was the beloved wife of 35 years to Seth F. Wakeman who also died due to the unexpected accident on March 9.  Joanna was Born in Walton, province of Nova Scotia, Canada the daughter…

New Jersey has again passed a bill that would not allow candidates for president and vice president to appear on the New Jersey ballot if they did not release their tax returns. Two years ago, it was blocked by the Republican governor, but this time it heads to a Democrat.This is not entirely about Trump. Back in 2012, Senate President Harry Reid wanted Mitt Romney to release even more tax returns, saying that “an unidentified former investor in Mr. Romney's…

Rachael Houston of Vineyard Haven died peacefully on March 15, 2019, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, surrounded by her loving family and friends. Rachael was born in Falmouth on Dec. 9, 1971, went to Tisbury Elementary School, and graduated from MVRHS. Rachael was an avid animal lover; she rode horses at... ...

Evelyn Marie Simpson died peacefully on Feb. 26, 2019, at Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. She was predeceased by her husband, Ellsworth W. Simpson Jr. Evelyn was born in Tisbury on Jan. 28, 1944, to Fannie and Manuel C. Sylvia. There will be a graveside service at the Oak Grove Cemetery, 299 State Rd.,... ...

On Saturday, March 30, at 3 pm, the West Tisbury library will host a screening of “One Big Home,” a documentary about the “big house bylaw” that passed in Chilmark in 2013. According to a press release following the screening, a discussion with Thomas Bena, Joan Malkin, Jessica Roddy, and Steve Bernier will follow the... ...

To the Editor: Recently two Island families suffered a most unimaginable tragedy when their babies died, and your recent article “DA’s office investigates deaths of two babies” (March 13) was nothing short of being cold and heartless. The headline itself immediately leads the reader to connect a crime to... ...

Tristram “Tut” Chase (1854–1928) was the last village blacksmith of North Tisbury. Born in Chilmark, his mother died of typhoid fever when he was still an infant. His father, mechanic and wheelwright Alpheus “Alf” Chase, soon remarried and moved the new family to North Tisbury. Chase relocated briefly to Framingham as... ...

WEST PALM BEACH — After spending the day golfing, drinking and doing drugs with his 74-year-old father, James "Jimmy" Scandirito II went outside for a smoke break on the night of March 28, 2018. His mother — a lifelong smoker — had died in the last year from lung cancer, so his dad didn’t like when he smoked inside the Boca Raton home. When he returned inside, more than an hour later, he found James "Skip" Scandirito on the floor, unconscious,…

WEST PALM BEACH — After spending the day golfing, drinking and doing drugs with his 74-year-old father, James "Jimmy" Scandirito II went outside for a smoke break on the night of March 28, 2018. His mother — a lifelong smoker — had died in the last year from lung cancer, so his dad didn’t like when he smoked inside the Boca Raton home. When he returned inside, more than an hour later, he found James "Skip" Scandirito on the floor, unconscious,…

WEST PALM BEACH — After spending the day golfing, drinking and doing drugs with his 74-year-old father, James "Jimmy" Scandirito II went outside for a smoke break on the night of March 28, 2018. His mother — a lifelong smoker — had died in the last year from lung cancer, so his dad didn’t like when he smoked inside the Boca Raton home. When he returned inside, more than an hour later, he found James "Skip" Scandirito on the floor, unconscious,…

FALMOUTH – Falmouth Police reports that officers were dispatched to the Falmouth Mall for a hit & run crash on Thursday at 4:45 PM. An officer located the suspected car with a male passed out inside. As a result, the officer requested Falmouth Fire/Rescue and he was transported by ambulance to the Falmouth Hospital. It […] The post Falmouth Police say hit & run crash appeared first on CapeCod.com.

We have seen the response to our story about the recent deaths of two infants, and would like to address many of the comments on our site, and on local social media. We included details about the ethnicity of two children who died recently that, while relevant to us in a developing story, confused our […] The... ...

FERGUSON, Mo. — Two young men were found dead inside torched cars. Three others died of apparent suicides. Another collapsed on a bus, his death ruled an overdose.Six deaths, all involving men with connections to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, drew attention on social media and speculation in the activist community that something sinister was at play.Police say there is no evidence the deaths have anything to do with the protests stemming from a white police…

WELLFLEET -- A group called Cape Cod Ocean Community isn’t content to wait for the towns to take action on shark mitigation. It launched a GoFundMe campaign to finance a Clever Buoy pilot program on the Outer Cape this summer.Its campaign is called the Arthur Clever Buoy Pilot, named for Arthur Medici, the 26-year-old Revere man who died last Sept. 15 after being bitten by a great white off Newcomb Hollow in Wellfleet.The buoys use sonar technology to detect…

WEST YARMOUTH — Although more than 65 years have passed since her boot camp days on Parris Island, Katherine DiNallo still retains a deep sense of pride in having served in the Marine Corps.For the 83-year-old, “Once a Marine, Always a Marine” has been a facet of her life.“There is nothing more gratifying to a Marine than when you see the colors march past or when they’re hoisted, even today,” said DiNallo, who has lived…

Dr. Charles A. “Chuck” Ratté, geologist, author, educator and devoted father and husband, died at his home in Saxton’s River on February 20, after a brief illness, days shy of his 92nd birthday. Always a man of gentle disposition, humility, and quiet confidence, his profession immersed him in nature’s incalculable... ...

A 34-year-old man who graduated from Barnstable High School died in an avalanche in Alaska.Alaska State Troopers say David Dzenawagis died Wednesday in the area of Takshanuk Mountains north of Haines, where he was living.Haines Borough police received a call on the death shortly before 1 p.m.Troopers say two skiers with Dzenawagis, 36-year-old Ted Cheney and 33-year-old Theodore Hart, both of Haines, extracted Dzenawagis from the snow…

Joanna (Cochrane) Wakeman, 78, a resident of 18 years of Stonington, Conn., died Saturday, March 9, 2019 as the result of an unexpected accident in Mystic, Conn. Affectionately known as “Joey” to her family and friends, she was the beloved wife of 35 years to Seth F. Wakeman who sadly, also died due to an... ...

Seth F. Wakeman, at the age of 88, of Stonington, Conn., died unexpectedly, Saturday, March 9, 2019 as the result of an unexpected accident in Mystic. He was the loving husband of 35 years to Joanna “Joey” (Cochrane) Wakeman who sadly, also died due to an unexpected accident on Saturday, March 9th. Born in Springfield... ...

Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 10:38am James S. (Jimmy) Combs Jr. of Edgartown died unexpectedly in the early morning hours of Dec. 14, 2017, while visiting with friends and family in Ohio. The cause was an automobile accident as the passenger of a drunk driver, leaving his family and friends shocked, their lives shattered. He was 27. Born on March 25, 1991, Jimmy moved from his hometown in Ohio to Edgartown in February 2011, falling in love with the Island. He lived with…

Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 10:37am Arthur J. Lenna died on March 6 at his home in Vineyard Haven. He was 88 and had been a resident of Martha’s Vineyard for the past 25 years. Arthur was born in the Bronx on June 4, 1930, the son of John A. and Edith (Flick) Lenna. He was an altar boy for St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral in the Bronx. The family moved to Rockland County, N.Y., when he was a teenager and he graduated from the Nyack high school. In 1951 he enlisted…

Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 10:35am Joan (Alwardt) Ethier died unexpectedly on Tuesday, March 5, at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, with her family by her side. She was 59 and was the beloved wife of James S. Ethier. Born in Oak Bluffs, she was the daughter of the late Carl and Frances (Bettencourt) Alwardt. Raised and educated on the Vineyard, she was a graduate of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and continued her education at the University of…

James S. (“Jimmy”) Combs Jr. of Edgartown died unexpectedly in the early morning hours of Dec. 14, 2017. Visiting with friends and family in Ohio, he was killed in an automobile accident as the passenger of a drunk driver, a tragic and cautionary tale, leaving his family and friends shocked, their lives shattered.... ...

State and local police and fire officials, and the District Attorney’s Office are investigating the fatal blaze that destroyed a home on remote Lieutenant Island in the early hours of March 11.Two people died in the fire. Identities have not yet been released, but the Wellfleet town assessor’s database shows the property was owned by Cathleen and Ferdinand Kral.According to a statement from Wellfleet public safety officials, at about 12:19 a.m., the Wellfleet…

EAST SANDWICH — A woman had minor injuries after a turkey crashed into her compact sport utility vehicle’s windshield Monday morning, according to police.The turkey was killed.The 43-year-old woman was driving a 2007 Kia Sportage eastbound on Route 6A in East Sandwich at around 8:30 a.m. when the vehicle struck the turkey as it was crossing the road, according to a post on the Sandwich Police Department's Facebook page.The turkey passed between the…

BOSTON — The Massachusetts state Senate passed a $143.9 million fiscal 2019 supplemental budget last week to address deficiencies and time-sensitive policy and spending initiatives.The proposed supplemental budget, which will now be reconciled with a House version, eliminates the “cap on kids” policy and provides $30 million for the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program.The “cap on kids” policy has been in effect for more…

Myrtle Case died quietly in her new home in Vermont, with her husband and daughter at her side. Born and raised in Scotland, Myrtle loved being outdoors, and spent many happy times with her family enjoying the beaches and hills, forests and lochs of the western islands and Highlands. After raising her two daughters,... ...

Arthur J. Lenna, 88, died on Wednesday morning, March 6, 2019, at his home in Vineyard Haven. Arthur was a resident of Martha’s Vineyard for the past 25 years. Arthur was born in the Bronx on June 4, 1930, the son of John A. and Edith (Flick) Lenna. Arthur was an altar boy for St. […] The post Arthur J. Lenna... ...

A Sandwich woman escaped serious injuries after hitting a turkey which then crashed into her motor vehicle's windshield this morning, according to police. The woman was driving a Kia Sportage on Route 6A in East Sandwich around 8:30 a.m. when the turkey that was crossing the road was struck by her vehicle, according to a post on the Sandwich Police Facebook page. The turkey passed between the woman and the unoccupied passenger seat, police wrote, [...]

SOUTH WELLFLEET — Fire officials and the Cape and Islands District Attorney's office have confirmed that two people died in a fire that destroyed a home Monday morning on Lieutenant Island."State police detectives, Wellfleet police and the state fire Marshall’s office are investigating a house [...]

WESTBOROUGH -Dominick “Jim” Arena, the former Edgartown Police Chief at the helm of the department during the Chappaquiddick scandal, has died. He was 89 and passed away in Westborough. The national spotlight fell on Arena after Senator Ted Kennedy drove off the Dyke Bridge on Chappaquiddick the night of July 18th,... .

BARNSTABLE — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a resolution Wednesday that "strongly condemns any form of hate speech," especially from county employees.The resolution affirms existing county non-discrimination policies and passed 73.85 percent to 25.22 percent.The assembly is the regional government’s legislative branch and is comprised of 15 delegates, one for each town on Cape Cod. The weight of each delegate’s…

BARNSTABLE — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a resolution Wednesday that "strongly condemns any form of hate speech,” especially from county employees.The resolution affirms existing county non-discrimination policies and passed 73.85 percent to 25.22 percent.The assembly is the regional government’s legislative branch and is comprised of 15 delegates, one for each town on Cape Cod. The weight of each delegate’s…

Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 12:15pm Dan Pinck died in Belmont on Feb. 10 after a long illness. He was 94 and had been a seasonal resident of Chilmark. Dan was born in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 1924, to Esther and Louis Pinck. He was a graduate of the Sidwell Friends School and Washington and Lee University. During World War II, he served behind enemy lines in China with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor to the C.I.A. and the U.S. Special Operations…

Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 12:13pm Evelyn Marie Simpson died peacefully on Feb. 26 at Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. Evelyn was born in Vineyard Haven on Jan. 28, 1944 to the late Fannie and Manuel C Sylvia. She worked as a housekeeper for many years at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and at local hotels. She enjoyed knitting and hosting the weekly knitting group at her house. She liked to go out to dinner and attend the dock dances at the Edgartown…

Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 12:12pm Barbara Cottle Child died on Sunday, March 3, in Memphis, Tenn. She was the wife of the late Edward S. Child. A service will take place at a later date and a full obituary will appear later. For online guestbook, please visit ccgfuneralhome.com.

Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 12:11pm Erica M. Ponte of Oak Bluffs died March 2 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. She was the wife of Kenneth M. Ponte. Services will be held at a later date. A full obituary will appear later. Donations in Erica’s memory can be made to the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group, P.O. Box 2214, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.

Max HartIt was an unexpected punch to the gut to find out yesterday that one of my oldest friends had died from cancer.