JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark has had some beautiful fall days this week. Let’s hope the weekend weather is as good for the continuing weekend weddings in town.

Kimberly Johnstone and Kevin David Kelley were married Oct. 4 at the Inn at Blueberry Hill on North Road. The bride is the daughter of Jill and J. David Johnstone of Ashland and the granddaughter of William Gilmour and the late Ruth Hancock Gilmour of Wayland and Chilmark. She is the great-granddaughter of the late Marian and Hariph Hancock of Vineyard Haven. The groom is the son of Maureen and John J. Kelley Jr. of Tewksbury. The Rev. Allan Baldwin of Wayland performed the ceremony. Heather Johnstone was her sister’s maid of honor. The bridesmaids were Karen Ramsey of Baton Rouge, La., and Kayleigh Quinn of Northborough, who are cousins of the bride, and Kathryn McCord of Denver, Co., Christin Reynolds of Chelmsford and Caitlin Kelley of Tewksbury. Flower girls were Kathryn Kelley and Sarah Martin. Timothy Martin of Lowell served as best man. The groomsmen were Michael and Joseph Kelley of Tewksbury, brothers of the bridegroom, and Jeremy Johnstone, Peter Kelley and Brad Milioto of Baton Rouge, La. John Kelley and Mathew Martin were ushers and Sean Kelley was the ring bearer. The bride and bridegroom are both engineers at Acision, Inc. and after a honeymoon in Aruba they will live and work in Seattle, Wash. Cheers from us all!

The Chilmark library will be showing the presidential debate Oct. 15 on the big screen and invites us all to attend free of charge. The debate begins at 9 p.m.

We send condolences to the friends and family of Dr. Charles Fotis who died in Alexandria, Va., Oct. 3. He was a frequent visitor to Menemsha.

Valerie Murphy is at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for the coming week where she is recovering from recent hip replacement surgery. We hope she will be out and about soon.

We have learned that another Chilmarker, Eric Cottle, is also at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. We all hope he will be home soon.

Dick and Pat Cudmore are enjoying a month’s vacation at one of the Morgan cottages in Menemsha. They have many friends here from the days when they spent the summers in Menemsha. Dick is a serious fisherman and comes regularly for the derby. We wish him luck!

Ted Meinelt traveled with Jan Newhall and Anita Guerra to Chatham on Sept. 26 to attend the wedding of his grandson, Stephen and Katie Litwinowich. Stephen is the son of Terry and Cathy Meinelt of Topsfield and Chilmark.

Please remember that Oct. 15 is the last day to register to vote in the November election. Please check with town clerk Jan Bradlee at town hall if you need more information.

Betsy Larsen will keep her popular fish market open until Oct. 26 and Harbor Craft Shop on Basin Road will remain open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays through Saturdays. Menemsha Market has closed and the Galley, Chilmark Store and Over South Antiques will close on Columbus Day.

The pff-season Library Café in the Chilmark Library will open on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Thecafé serves up coffee, tea, cocoa and cookies in the meeting room of the library during regular hours and will be open until mid-April. The Friends of the Library sponsor this popular activity.

On Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 6 to 8 p.m. the library will host an information meeting by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Noman’s Land Island National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan. The public will have an opportunity to meet the staff and learn about the current refuge management.

Horseshoe crabs will be the subject of marine paleobiologist Fred Hotchkiss’ talk on Oct. 15 at the library from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. He is director of the Marine and Paleobiological Research Institute. The Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund sponsors the lecture.

Bob Barrett of Rochester was in town this week for a few days to close up his Chilmark home for the season.

The Chilmark Church will resume their Tuesday evening soup suppers at the church meeting hall. They will begin at 5 p.m. All are welcome.

Candy Shweder will be hosting her second annual Columbus Day opening at her new pottery barn in Chilmark which is at 4 Fulling Mill Hill off Fulling Mill Road off Middle Road. It will be Sunday, Oct. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. There will be refreshments and pottery demonstrations and deep discounts on all discontinued patterns and styles. Candy is a well-known potter who has been showing her work at the artisans shows for many years.

Chilmark Library’s new assistant librarian, Irene Tewksbury, will be doing a story and arts and crafts time for children from first to fifth grade on Wednesday afternoons from 3 to 4 p.m. at the library. The theme will be autumn in New England, which will include Halloween. The program begins Oct. 8 and continues on Wednesdays.

Nancy Nitchie has returned from Nashville where she and her son Donald attended a convention of Banjo musicians. The IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award went to the magazine known as The Banjo Newsletter. Nancy who received the honor, and her late husband, Hub Nitchie, founded the newsletter back in 1972. The publication is dedicated to the five-string banjo and includes articles on notable banjo players. Friends and fans remember that they began the newsletter while living on Martha’s Vineyard and the editorial office is still in Chilmark. The Nitchie’s sons, Donald and Spencer, now put out the Banjo Newsletter. Congratulations to Nancy in recognition of many years of hard work.

Joan Poole Nash and her daughter Amy rowed in the Textile River Regatta in Lowell last Sunday and won several medals. Amy who is captain of the University of Massachusetts rowing team won a gold medal and silver medal. Joan won a silver medal and a bronze medal and her son, Thomas, who is 14, served as coxswain for the first time and won a gold medal. They will next be rowing in the Head of the Charles race in Boston. Congratulations to all! Joan is the daughter of Everett and the late Virginia Poole of Quitsa.

A last reminder, the women’s symposium will meet at the community center Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. until noon.