Jared N. Grant of Edgartown died surrounded by loving family at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital on March 14 after a long illness. He will be remembered as a caring husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and devoted member of the Island community.

A lifelong Vineyarder, Jerry was born into a different time in the early days of WWII. Some of his earliest memories were of his mother Helen working in communications at the airport, then a naval base, and going out on fishing boats with his father, Ken Shepherd.

As a young boy, Jerry was adopted by his mother’s second husband, Kenneth Grant, and grew up excelling at basketball and hard work. His dad and uncles owned Grant Brothers Construction and as a young man Jerry worked for the family business building roads and stone walls and digging cellar holes with a shovel in the days before heavy machines were a dime a dozen on the Vineyard.

In 1966, he bought the Chappy Ferry from his childhood friend Larry Mercier thinking it would be a small side business while he continued to work his day job. What would become known as the “Kennedy Incident”, however, took place soon after. The rest, as they say, was history. Jerry hastened to build a new ferry, the On Time II, in his back yard in Katama. No engineer, no designer, no crew. Just a few friends, sheer hard work and Yankee ingenuity. It’s who he was.

Jerry and his high school sweetheart Dottie (Lima) raised their four children, Cindy, Debbie, Patty and Kenny, on the plains of Katama. Later Jerry married Nancy (Daigle) and together welcomed their daughter Dana.

In his 50’s Jerry married Sue Carroll, also of Edgartown, and became a beloved stepfather to her two sons, Alex and Rob, and later grandfather to Alex’s two daughters.

Sue and Jerry spent many happy years in their second homes in Arizona and later in Maine and loved hosting family and friends in both places. They shared fond memories of lobster dinners on Norton Point, Maine lobsters in Arizona and teaching landlubbers how to eat lobsters and steamers, and introducing off-Island friends to the taste of a real Edgartown bay scallop.

In addition to having owned the Chappy Ferry for 22 years, his business vocations included a small retail fish market, two commercial fishing vessels, a dock building business and two gas stations – many run with friends and family.

He was an avid bay scalloper, going so far as to build his own boat, weld his own drags and design his own haul system. Later, golf became one of the great joys (and frustrations) of Jerry’s life. He was a member of Edgartown Golf Club and enjoyed playing many golf courses in Arizona during his years there and all over during his travels.

Jerry is survived by his wife Sue, his sister Cynthia Limberakis of Woods Hole, brothers Daniel Shepherd of Falmouth and Kenneth Shepherd of Edgartown, sisters Sandra Grant of Edgartown and Sheila Borges of South Carolina and his children Cynthia Grant (Richard Clark) of Vineyard Haven, Debra Grant (Michael Cassidy) of Edgartown, Patrica Grant (Donna Streit) of Elgin, Ill., Kenneth Grant (Carolyn Paczkowski) of Beverly, and Dana Grant of Milton, stepsons

Robert Morrison of Edgartown and Alex Morrison (Maggie) of Edgartown, 13 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.

Charitable donations in his memory may be made to MV Boys & Girls Club or Martha’s Vineyard Hospital infusion unit Hospice of MV.