He unlocked the Island for us

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To the Editor:

The wonderful letter from Hermine Hull (“A dear friend to all,” Sept.17) was the first we knew of the death of our friend Buzzy Blankenship. What a terrible shock, when we had just seen him within the past few weeks. He had a special habit over many years of dropping in on us with a bucket of quahogs when we were least expecting him. Here is my happiest Buzzy story:

We first met Buzzy because he was our locksmith, but we soon became friends in the fall of our first year on Martha’s Vineyard in 1998 because we allowed, really encouraged, him to hunt deer on our property. He never shot a deer on our land, but during that fall we had many interesting conversations as he brought the Island to life for us.

In late September of that year, we went with some house guests to Dogfish Bar Beach on Oxcart Road, mistakenly thinking that because it was after Labor Day the beach was open to the public. We spent a pleasant hour on the beach with several other families. When we got up to leave, we were horrified to see one of the people who had been so friendly on the beach carefully locking a chain which would have kept us imprisoned in the parking lot. He was quite huffy as he explained this beach was for members only, but as we pleaded our innocence, he finally relented and unlocked the chain.

I told this story to Buzzy the next time I saw him. A few weeks later he quietly slipped something into my hand, a small key. I have it still: the key to the Dogfish Bar parking lot. I miss him so much just thinking about it.

Penny Weinstein

Aquinnah