David Grain graduated from MVRHS in 1980. He entered the high school as a student the same year that I did as a teacher — my, how time flies!
He had been a summer kid until his parents moved to the Vineyard in 1976. He quickly saw that involvement in sports was a big part of being at MVRHS, so he played football and ran track. He grew to excel at track, winning recognition both on a regional and state level. In that freshman year, he also decided to run for class president, and he won.
As a student in my social studies classes, David loved to participate in discussions, and asked questions to better understand the content. Oftentimes, Barbara Murphy, his Spanish teacher, and I would share stories about his quick sense of humor and winning smile, especially if an assignment was late. He truly was a pleasure to have in class. His mom, Dora, who was a substitute teacher at the high school, agreed that David was charming, but he could be working harder academically. As David describes her, if he showed her a 90 percent on a test, she would ask, Why not 100? Even today, he still hears her voice encouraging him always to be his best.
He attended Holy Cross, where he majored in English, and worked on Wall Street for a number of years. He reminisced that his dad, as a postman, had delivered the mail on Wall Street. He initially worked in public financing but moved to mergers and acquisitions after completing his MBA at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, working for Drexel Burnham and Morgan Stanley. After several years on Wall Street, David became an operating executive in the telecommunication industry, and 20 years ago, he started his own private equity firm to invest in telecommunications. Today, that firm is a huge international business, with assets and offices worldwide.
David’s company is headquartered in D.C., but luckily, he and his wife have a home in Vineyard Haven, the Island town where he grew up. Wanting to give back to the Island, he is chairman of the board for the M.V. Museum. Thank you, David, not only for excelling in life and making your mom, your teachers, and your Island proud, but also for committing yourself to the M.V. Museum, thereby connecting with Island history, past and present, and being a leader in its future.
Marge Harris was a teacher at MVRHS for 27 years. She lives in Oak Bluffs. You can contact her at margeharris@comcast.net.
