To the Editor.
A letter from Lee Goldberg (Katama and Wayne, N.J. ) published in the July 17 issue of The Times, titled, “The other 49 weeks,” spoke to Lee’s thoughts and feelings about a memorial bench at a town landing in Edgartown.
This letter was seen by my niece, who passed it on to her dad, who passed it on to his mother, who passed it on to me. I passed it on to my daughter, one of David’s sisters, while sitting on the bench at about 6 pm on the 17th. We shed a few tears, but it was good — I’m tearing up as I write this.
The phrase, “a kid in the summer time,” is actually David’s. When he was about 12, he told me that all his friends wanted to grow up and get licenses, jobs and so forth. He didn’t want that. He liked what he was, he wanted to be “a kid in the summer time.” David loved the Vineyard and all that comes with it: beach, biking, clamming and quality family time. We, David’s family, are pleased and grateful that some folks find in the bench a bit of tranquility, focus, and sense of place.
I have attached a couple of pictures of David. In one he is fishing on the jetty at Lake Tashmoo. In the other he is “captaining” the Menemsha bike ferry. A third picture is of myself and my daughter on the bench in 2013. It is my hope that you will forward the pictures along with this note to Mr. Goldberg.
George Smith
David’s Dad
Piermont, N.H.
