If you read Shirley Mayhew’s last column about Island couples, you may have been introduced to the Morgans, or perhaps you’ve known Jim and Roberta for years, but if you’re a wash-ashore like me who had no Island history before making this my home, getting to visit with Jim and Roberta was a welcome late-January diversion. First, you can’t walk into their Flanders Lane home without stopping to take in all the Island art — many relief wall pieces carved and painted by Jim, paintings both Jim and Roberta worked on together, and paintings by many other artists, some living and some not, that give a window into the old days of life in Menemsha. Jim grew up in Menemsha and Roberta came from Vineyard Haven. Jim, now 90, admits he’s “very critical of anyone painting a boat,” but with all his years fishing and out on the water, he has a well-seasoned eye. In one small, 6-in. by 8-in. Benton-like painting not by Jim, he points out a house he tells me is still on Chowder Kettle Lane, though he admits, “It’s been added onto,” and continues, pointing, “That’s my mother and Henry Look delivering the milk.” One painting over the mantle is of Hurricane Carol (1954), painted in 1955 by Middle Road artist Harold Geyer (1905-2005). Jim says he started carving boats out of wood as a kid. He first made weathervanes to sell to friends, but more people wanted fishing boats, and he created his own style of relief to hang on the wall. I understand Mystic Seaport has a couple of Jim’s pieces in its collection. Jim only retired from fishing full-time at age 82. While Jim and I talk, his son, Jimmy (James), stops by to make himself lunch. Jim still likes to go down to Vineyard Haven and have coffee with the boys at Humphrey’s when Roberta is willing to drive him down, something he missed that morning. Despite the increasing pressure in his head that has afflicted Jim since his stroke, he is happy to have company, and smiles easily as he shares stories.
Roberta comes downstairs and joins us. She tells me Jim’s mother used to sew the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls she sells in her craft store on Basin Road. Also, Jim’s mother made the Beach Plum jam she used to sell on the hill and they carried in the store. When Roberta first moved to Menemsha, she says, “it took a year to get used to the change and make local friends.” Roberta’s father, a boat builder who worked for Coby Shipyard and served as a harbormaster, came from Nova Scotia, and one October Jim and she drove all the way up so she could visit the area where her family originated. Now Roberta is the only one of her siblings still alive, but both she and Jim relish their two children and their spouses, four grandchildren, and the newest family member, a great-grandchild beaming from photos on a side table. The house Roberta grew up in on Daggett Avenue was built by her dad, and she hopes to one day show her grandson what it looks like. Roberta keeps busy sewing aprons, pillows, girl’s dresses (sizes 10 and 13), and making the clothes for the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls she’s working on. I look forward to another visit with the Morgans soon.
On Feb. 6 at 7 pm, sit back and relax at the Chilmark Library while you dream of summer when watching $1,000,000 Mermaid, a 1952 biopic of Australian swimming champ and entertainer Annette Kellerman starring Esther Williams and Victor Mature. Bring your lunch or enjoy a cup of chowder on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the noon showing of The 39 Steps, a 1935 British thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
At 5 pm on Wednesday, February 11 come and meet Michael Blanchard at his book talk and slide show about his book Fighting For My Life: Finding Hope and Serenity on Martha’s Vineyard.
On Sunday, Feb. 8, join the Vineyard Conservation Society for their Winter Walk at the Allen Farm in Chilmark, beginning at 1 pm for nearly 2 hours. Enjoy cider and cookies before heading home. For more information, check vineyardconservation.org or call 508-693-9588.
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 pm, join host poet Justen Ahren for the fifth annual Valentine’s Poems of the Beloved at Pathways Living Room Studios at the Chilmark Tavern. Poets and writers are welcome to share original and favorite poems.
