Marybeth (Lopes) Baptiste, class of 1984, enjoyed high school until she got an F in algebra and almost croaked. She’d never had a D grade, never mind an F. She realized that she had been scheduled to the wrong class, so she quickly transferred into a more appropriate one. She still remembers how traumatic that F had made her feel. However, a highlight of high school was the student Close Up program trip to Washington, D.C. The students, over the course of a week, studied government in a variety of ways. Marybeth loved the entire trip, not only for its content but for giving her a chance to travel to D.C.
She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after high school. Marybeth and another girl from Martha’s Vineyard enrolled in Cape Cod Community College and got an apartment off-Island. Oh, not such a good idea, for they experienced unlimited freedom from a sheltered Island life, and therefore not much attention was paid to school work. Marybeth decided to move to Florida, where she enrolled at Miami University. However, bottom line, she was not ready to commit to any college. Today, perhaps, this could be described as needing a gap year.
Marybeth returned to the Island and was hired at the Edgartown National Bank. She married, but sadly, her husband died 10 years into the marriage. She was heartbroken and wanted to get off the Island, but she had to work, so, when she could, she took driving trips to Ohio, to Washington, D.C, and to Florida –– all on her own. She was restless, and decided to work off-Island, joining other Islanders doing the daily commute to and from the Vineyard. As travelers know, this can be exhausting. Luckily, Eric Medeiros asked Marybeth to be his full-time office manager at Medeiros Appliance, where she continues to work and serve our Island.
As I interviewed Marybeth, I remembered her being so very kind to her classmates. I saw that same kindness recently, when I attended an Island funeral and Marybeth was comforting the widow, a role she knows so well. Whether it was to a classmate in her high school years or a neighbor today, Marybeth offers a lending hand or, at the very least, a wonderful smile.
Marge Harris was a teacher at MVRHS for 27 years. You can contact her at margeharris@comcast.net. This column appears twice a month.