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Barbara G. Bradley, 88
Was a Painter and Poet
Barbara Greenough Bradley died on Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital after a brief illness. She was 88.
She was born on August 19, 1913 at West Chop to Henry Vose Greenough and the former Emery Holden, and grew up in Brookline, spending summers in the West Chop home where the family had summered since 1889. She attended Beaver country Day School and was graduated from Milton Academy in 1931. In 1932, she married
a longtime family friend, John F. Bradley, an architect from Evanston, Ill., who was trained at Harvard and M.I.T.; they settled in Milton and had two daughters.
After her divorce in 1938, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to be near her brother, Peter, then the writer of a financial column for the family paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She took various jobs while she went to school to study writing. She wrote and published her poetry, returning every summer to West Chop to be with her family.
In 1953, Barbara moved to the Island full-time with her friend, Jane Bundred of Pasadena, Calif. Their West Chop home, Chopsticks, became a social center for a large and diverse circle of friends which included Barbara's two daughters, Anne Vaillant and Emery Goff, and a growing brood of grandchildren. Barbara continued to write poetry and to paint; many Vineyarders are the proud owners of her colorful fantasy paintings. In the 1965 anthology of Poetry entitled Martha's Vineyard, she contributed a number of poems together with such authors as Marion Lineaweaver, Robert Hyde and Dionis Coffin Riggs. In 1978 she published her own well-received collection of poems, Tendering, followed in 1985 by her acclaimed book, Jewel in the Eye. Several of her poems have appeared in the pages of the Vineyard Gazette.
In 1969, Barbara moved to Cambridge, where her daughter, Anne, and her family resided.
From 1970 until 1993, she shared a home with her friend, Justina Ruiz-de-Conde from Burgos, Spain, a professor of Spanish at Wellesley college; they spent summers at Justina's cottage in Makonikey.
Barbara always loved dogs and owned a long series of varied breeds until she returned to her beloved Vineyard to live at Long Hill in Edgartown in 1993. Justina eventually joined her there, dying at the age of 91 in 2000.
When the Cedars Inn at West Chop was renovated in 1999, Barbara was the guest of honor at its reopening ceremony and dedication of a bronze plaque inscribed with words from her poem about West Chop, Resort Town:
Battered by gale and memory
sunwarmed and wrinkled,
we still stand.
She is survived by her daughters, Anne Bourne of Santa Fe, N.M., and Emery Goff Carhart of Farmington, Me., eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Kelsey Beach Hale, 79
Was Full of Cheer and Laughter
Kelsey Beach Hale slipped away late at night on Friday, Oct. 19, from her home in Vineyard Haven. Cancer finally claimed her after a long fight, but her wonderful spirit, full of good cheer, laughter and compassion for all whom she touched, will live forever.
Kelsey was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., May 7, 1922, great-granddaughter of Moses Yale Beach, owner of the New York Sun newspaper and great-niece of Abbott Thayer, artist and early developer of naval camouflage. She grew up in New England but fell in love with the west on trips she took as an adolescent with her cousin, Helen Kenyon. She attended Colby College in New Hampshire and graduated with a BA from Skidmore College in 1944.
Shortly thereafter, she worked in the headquarters of the American Field Service in New York city, where she briefly met Thomas Hale, who would become her husband 50 years later. After the war, she spent most of her life in the southwest, particularly in Albuquerque, N.M., and Sedona, Ariz., where she led varied careers as a teacher and social worker. She loved the out-of-doors, wild birds, camping and climbing and was in her element in the mountains. To her, nature was superbly precious and was the wonderful gift of the Great Spirit.
Kelsey had many talents and interests and was a significant contributor to every community in which she lived, participating actively in writing groups and local libraries. She also offered her lively gifts of hospitality and genuine interest in others. Music and literature gave her much pleasure. She enjoyed Beethoven and Brahms and also some of the popular music of today. She loved to paint and draw, and she read voraciously, everything from paperback mysteries to books of philosophy and religion, and she listened to lectures on tape concerning various authors and their writings.
She was indeed an author in her own right, and many of her short stories, essays and poems have been separately published. Some of her writing was allegorical, some pure and moving fiction. Many spoke of her deeply held beliefs in the goodness and beauty of life and nature, and of her deep faith in the goodness of all humanity now and in the hereafter. Only recently did she complete her remarkable but very private memories of her life simply entitled Onward and Upward.
Kelsey and Tom Hale came together in 1993 and were married
in Bermuda in March 1994. They lived a marvelous life of travel and activity and her spirit remains on the Vineyard, which she genuinely loved as her home. She leaves her loving husband, her brother, Rev. Brewster Beach, her children, William Meleney and Kelsey "Kim" Wilkes, and three grandchildren, Hannah and Fiona Wilkes and Kenyon Meleney.
In her own words, "I leave the spirit of adventure and curiosity, caring and compassion for all people, concern for our frail earth and love for each other." She was a wonderfully lovely person.
A memorial service will be held Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Vineyard Haven.
Contributions in her memory may be sent to the Martha's Vineyard Hospital, to The Nature Conservancy or to the Unitarian Church in Vineyard Haven.
Malcolm Donahue, 80
Was Veteran, Attorney
Malcolm M. Donahue Esq. of Westwood and Edgartown died Thursday, Nov. 15, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston at the age of 80.
Mr. Donahue was graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover in 1940, Harvard College A.B. in 1943 class of 1944, and later received his J.D. from Boston University Law School.
Mr. Donahue served in the United States Army field artillery Corps from 1943 to 1946, including one year in the Philippine Islands with the 1st Cavalry Tank Division during World War II. Mr. Donahue practiced law in the federal courts including the Supreme Court. He also tried many cases in various courts of the commonwealth and appearing before a number of state and federal administrative agencies. Mr. Donahue served as an assistant attorney general on the staff of Attorney General George Fingold from 1953 to 1956. In 1957 Mr. Donahue was appointed as professor of law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston and has taught there for over 45 years. During the time he was associate dean from 1973 to 1990. He taught administrative law, conflict of law, personal property, legal method, jurisdiction and judgments to name a few.
A resident of Westwood for many years, Mr. Donahue served as a member on the board of appeals for the town of Westwood for 10 years and as chairman of the board for three. He also was a trustee for the Roger Williams College and a director of Nortek Inc. He also belonged to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, American Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, Boston Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Harvard Club of Boston, Harvard Varsity Club, Edgartown Yacht Club, Gridiron Club, Norfolk Trout Club and the Union Club of Boston.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Caroline Barbato Donahue; his two daughters, Alice (Sherry) Donahue Mattison of Osterville and Edgartown, and Cynthia Donahue Richards of San Francisco, Calif. He was the brother of Rodger J. Donahue of Barnstable and the late Frank J. Donahue Jr. He was the grandfather of Joseph Mattison 4th, Alice Moir Mattison and Augustus Hamilton Richards.
A funeral mass was celebrated at St. Joseph's Church in Needham on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. Visiting hours were at the Eaton Funeral Home, Needham, on Sunday from 3 to 7 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials in Mr. Donahue's memory may be made to Suffolk University Law School, c/o Dean's Office, 120 Tremont street, Boston, MA 02108.
Helen R. Bailow, 90
Was Kind and Caring Person
Helen R. (Smith) Bailow, 90, of Falmouth, died peacefully Oct. 21 at the Royal Megansett Nursing Home in North Falmouth. She was the wife of the late Robert E. Bailow.
Helen was born in Cambridge, the daughter of Rose A. (Gately) and Walter I. Smith. She was a graduate of both Cambridge High School and the Latin School. She and her husband moved to Falmouth shortly after their marriage. She was a former employee of Stop & Shop in Falmouth.
Mrs. Bailow is survived by three sons, Robert E. Bailow Jr. of Portland, Me., Michael D. Bailow of Falmouth and Arthur J. Bailow of Vineyard Haven; one niece, Rosemary Fassett of West Falmouth, and one nephew, David Smith of Waltham. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
A funeral mass was celebrated on Oct. 25 at St. Patrick's Church in Falmouth; burial followed at St. Joseph's cemetery.
Donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 953, Barnstable, MA 02630.
Jane W. Downs Burt, 80
Was Acushnet Resident
Jane W. Downs Burt, 80, widow of Norman R. Burt of Acushnet, died Oct. 31 at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford. She was born in Vineyard Haven, daughter of the late Howard DeForest and Elizabeth W. Jones Downs, and had been a resident of Acushnet since 1955. She was a homemaker and loved knitting, making braided rugs and camping. She loved people. Mrs. Burt was a member of Clifford Chapel in New Bedford.
She is survived by two sons, Jeffrey Russell Burt of Cooperstown, N.Y., and Stephen Howard Burt of Acushnet; a sister, Constance Elizabeth Leonard of Vineyard Haven, and three grandchildren. She was predeceased by a brother, Donald DeForest Downs.
Memorial services will be held at a later date. Arrangements are by the Kirbby Funeral Home in New Bedford.
William J. Secor, Age 87
Was Prominent Attorney
William J. Secor Jr., 87, a prominent Waterbury attorney, died Monday, Oct. 29, at Waterbury Hospital. Mr. Secor, of Heritage Crest, also spent time in Chilmark and Vero Beach, Fla., and was a former resident of Waterbury and Middlebury. He was the husband of Barbara (Wynne) Secor.
Mr. Secor was born June 22, 1914, in Waterbury, son of the late William J. Sr. and Gertrude (Lynch) Secor. He was a graduate of St. Margaret's Grammar School and Crosby High School. He was a member of the Yale University graduating class of 1936 and the Yale Law School graduating class of 1939. While attending Yale, he was a member of the university band and managed the school's lacrosse team.
In 1939, he was admitted to law practice before Connecticut State Courts, U.S. District Court and Federal Appellate Court. He initially specialized in litigation and later in taxation and estate planning and was the senior partner at Secor, Cassidy & McPartland, P.C., in Waterbury, for more than 40 years. During World War II he served as an FBI special agent in Virginia, Mississippi and New York.
He was a member of the Waterbury board of education, town chairman of the Middlebury Republican town committee, a delegate to the Republican National Convention in San Francisco and the Middlebury town attorney. He was a member of the standing committee for admission to the Connecticut Bar, a member of the Waterbury and Connecticut Bar Associations and was the honorary director of the AMERIND Foundation in Dragoon, Ariz.
Mr. Secor was president and director of the Mattatuck Museum, director and general counsel of American Bank of Connecticut and associate director of Citytrust Co. He was also special assistant to the state's attorney in New Haven County. He was director and president of Abel's Hill Association in Chilmark, a director and member of the Waterbury Club, a member of the Edgartown Golf Club and the Edgartown Yacht Club, a member of Mory's Association in New Haven and a member of the Mooring's Club in Vero Beach.
In addition to his wife, he leaves six children, W. Fielding Secor of Southbury, John Hoover Secor of Harwinton, Samuel Mason Secor of Washington, Conn., Betsey Secor Delaney of Dedham, Barbara Wynne Secor of Woodbury and Libbie Secor Hardy of Norwell, and 11 grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held Friday, Nov. 9, at 11 a.m. at the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury. Arrangements are by the Bergin Funeral Home in Waterbury.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Mattatuck Museum, 144 W. Main street, Waterbury, MA 06702, or to Hospice of Martha's Vineyard, Linton avenue, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557.
William A. Ashak
Was Fisherman, Woodsman
William A. Ashak, 54, of Berlin, Vt., died Monday, Sept. 17 at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vt. He was the husband of Sally (Abromaitis) Ashak.
Mr. Ashak was born Sept. 11, 1947, in Waterbury, Conn., son of George Ashak and the late Julia (Chesnavich) Ashak. He grew up in Watertown, Conn., was graduated from Woodbury High School in 1965, served in the United Sates Navy during the Vietnam War, and was married
on May 16, 1971 in Becket. He worked in the Waterbury, Conn., area for Watertown Equipment, Consolidated PreCast, Matty's Paving and McCleary Brothers Inc. before retiring to Edgartown in 1995. Mr. Ashak was an avid fisherman, winning many awards and accolades in the Vineyard angling community. He moved to Berlin, Vt., in 1998 to pursue his interests in gardening and forestry on his mountainside estate. Mr. Ashak was a born naturalist, skilled woodworker, talented cook, canner and pickler, and a master fisherman.
Besides his wife of 30 years, Mr. Ashak leaves his father, George Ashak of Newport, Vt.; a daughter, Rachael (Ashak) Porter, and her husband, Jeff, of Connecticut; a son, Peter Ashak, and his wife, Sara, of Vermont; his brother, George (Butch) Ashak of Hawaii; four sisters, Cindy (Ashak) Fretts of Connecticut, Karen (Ashak) Delaney of Florida, Janet (Ashak) Evans of Wisconsin and Darlene (Ashak) Dahlin of Vermont, his four grandchildren, and his "Molly-Puppy."
In accordance with Bill's wishes, there will be no memorial service. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to The Bill Ashak Memorial Award, care of: Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby, Ed Jerome, P.O. Box 2232, Edgartown, MA 02539. Checks can be made out to "MVSBBD c/o Ed Jerome." A note should be enclosed stating that the donation is for The Bill Ashak Memorial Award. This award is for the largest bass caught from shore by a child 14 years or younger.
Anthony Hoggan
Anthony (Tony) Hoggan of Oak Bluffs, 53, died suddenly of heart failure on Jan. 23, 2002 in Boston.
He is survived by three children: Rebbecca, Samantha and Mac, and a step-son, Eric Wolfe; two sisters, Christina Schultz and Laurie Jones; a brother, Peter, and his parents, Lorraine and Larry Hoggan, also of Oak Bluffs.
A celebration of his life will be held in June.
Allard Thompson
Was Formerly of Oak Bluffs
Allard Thompson of Putnam, Conn., died on Jan. 19 at Roncalli Health Care in Danielson, Conn. She was the wife of the late Willard Thompson, who died in 1984.
Mrs. Thompson was born April 4, 1915, in Galveston, Tex., daughter of the late Thomas and Lorretta Allard Melbert. She made her home in Pomfret, Conn., for more than 40 years, moving to Oak Bluffs in 1967 and returning to Putnam in 2000. She was the head of the millinery department at the former Bugbee Department Store in Putnam for 15 years. She worked as a secretary for the Oak Bluffs police department for several years. She was an avid reader and a skilled seamstress. She enjoyed sewing and knitting and had her own booth at several crafts shows in Oak Bluffs.
She is survived by two sons, James Thompson of Rochester, N.Y., and Robert Thompson of Putnam, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Services will be private, with a spring interment in Oak Bluffs. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in her memory to the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association's Tabernacle Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 367, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557. Arrangements are by the Smith & Walker Funeral Home in Putnam.
Anne Boireau Fulton
Anne Boireau Fulton died at home on the Vineyard on Jan. 2 after a long illness. She was born in France in 1932.
She is survived by her husband, Robert E. Fulton Jr. of Newtown, Conn.; her brothers, Marc and Remi Boireau of France; her daughter, Colombe Smith of Pittsfield; her son, Christophe Smith of Villars, Switzerland, and three grandchildren. Another son, Raphael Smith, predeceased her.
A memorial service will take place later in the spring.
Contributions in Mrs. Fulton's name may be made to the Raphael Smith Memorial Fund at the School of Intternational and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 475 Riverside Drive, att. Rodrick Dial, 9th floor, New York, NY 10115.
Claire Jane Rantoul, 84
Was Artist and Gardener
Claire Jane Angert Rantoul, 84, of Chilmark died at the Village House Nursing Center in Newport, R.I., on Jan. 23. She was the wife of the late Talbot Rantoul. She was a painter, gardener and a lover of the Vineyard.
Born in St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 8, 1917, Mrs. Rantoul was the daughter of the late Eugene and Vera Gioninni Angert. She went to boarding school in Tucson, Ariz., and attended the Child Walker Art College in Boston, graduating in 1939. That year, she married
Talbot Rantoul of Ipswich.
After the war, the couple lived in New Canaan, Conn., from 1946 through 1967, where she was involved with the Silver Mine Guild of Artists and started a community nursery school. During this time, she and her husband began vacationing on the Vineyard; they built their house on Middle Road in Chilmark in 1964. They lived in Cambridge from 1967 to 1969, and then moved to Providence, R.I., where her husband was president of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1968 through 1975.
Beginning in 1986, Mr. and Mrs. Rantoul wintered in Ojai, Calif., and summered in Chilmark. Mrs. Rantoul was an accomplished painter and participated in many exhibitions on and off-Island. After Mr. Rantoul retired, the couple took many trips in their motor home across the country and into Mexico. Mrs. Rantoul loved to garden and was an imaginative cook.
She is survived by two daughters, Diana Harrison of Middletown, R.I., and Beverly Turman of Berkeley, Calif.; a son, Neal Rantoul of Cambridge; five granddaughters, Natasha Harrison of Newport, R.I., Brenna Turman of Emeryville, Calif., D'Arcy Harrison of Seattle, Wash., Laurel Turman of Berkeley, Calif., and Mary Rantoul of Cambridge, and two great-granddaughters, Lucyanna Claire Randall and Kaya Rose Randall, both of Newport, R.I.
A memorial service was held on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. at the St. Columba Berkeley Memorial Chapel in Middletown, R.I. Interment will be private at Abel's Hill in Chilmark.
Cyrus R. Vance, 84
Was Secretary of State in 1970s
Former Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance, who helped guide foreign policy through many major Cold War events of the 1970s and then resigned to protest President Jimmy Carter's use of force in an attempt to free Americans held hostage in Iran, died Jan. 12 in New York. He was 84.
His son, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said he had Alzheimer's disease, but the cause of his death was from pneumonia and other complications.
Mr. Vance was born in Clarksburg, W.Va., on March 27, 1917. He attended Yale University, where he earned both a bachelor's degree and a law degree, graduating from the law school with honors in 1942.
After World War II service as a naval gunnery officer, Mr. Vance began an association with the influential Wall Street law firm of Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett, which, except for his periods of government service, would continue throughout his life. He also became active in Democratic party affairs.
A year after his discharge from the Navy in 1946, he married
Grace Elsie Sloane, daughter of the board chairman of the W&J Sloane furniture company. They had five children together.
When John F. Kennedy became president in 1961, Mr. Vance began climbing the upper ranks of the foreign policy and national security apparatus. He served as general counsel of the Defense Department, secretary of the Army and deputy defense secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson.
He left government in 1967 but returned in 1968 to be Johnson's special envoy in the crisis over North Korea's seizure of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo and deputy chief American delegate to the Paris peace conference on Vietnam.
Mr. Carter named Mr. Vance secretary of state in 1977, a post he held until his 1980 resignation.
Returning to his law practice, Mr. Vance served briefly as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was instrumental in brokering a series of temporary cease-fires between feuding factions.
Mr. Vance and his family summered at their home in the Oyster-Watcha neighborhood on Edgartown's south shore.
Mr. Vance is survived by his wife, Grace; five children, Cyrus R. Jr., Elsie, Amy, twins Grace Roberts and Camilla, and two grandchildren, Simon and Clare.
