Voices of Veterans: Tom Murphy
Tom Murphy is the chairman of the select board in Aquinnah, and sits on the town’s finance committee and planning board. He’s also the veterans service officer for Aquinnah, and involved in the veterans...
Voices of Veterans: Tom Bennett
Tom Bennett grew up on Chappaquiddick and in Edgartown, and served as a medic in the U.S. Air Force. He provides assistance for veterans at Martha's Vineyard Community Services.
I spent the first three to...
Voices of Veterans: Randy Dull
Randy Dull joined the U.S. Army in June 2000, and served for 15 years between active duty and National Guard. He was deployed to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and finished his service as a...
Voices of Veterans: Paul Schultz
Paul Schultz, from Edgartown, went into the Army at the age of 21 in 1968. He served in Vietnam in the B Battery, Third Battalion, Sixth Artillery Unit.
I graduated high school on the Vineyard...
Voices of Veterans: Kevin Devine
Kevin Devine spent nearly three decades in the Army, and served in many regions of the world. He currently serves on the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) tribal council.
I was born and raised...
Voices of Veterans: Deborah and Samantha Potter
Deborah Potter is the current town administrator for Oak Bluffs, and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. As an enlisted Marine, she served as an air traffic controller stateside and overseas before coming to work...
Voices of Veterans: Bob Tankard
Bob Tankard served in Korea in the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, guarding the border just outside North Korea.
Tankard is also a veterans outreach coordinator for the Island at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. The...
Voices of Veterans: Bob Penney
Bob Penney is one of the last surviving veterans of World War II on Martha’s Vineyard. He lives on Oak Bluffs Harbor, and turned 100 on August 21. He enlisted in the Navy, but...
Voices of Veterans: Benjamin Mayhew III
Benjamin (“Skipper”) Mayhew III grew up in Chilmark, and served in Vietnam as a medic.
I was in the Army as a medic. Vietnam: two years. It was actually a little bit shorter than that,...
Voices of Recovery: Tyler Paulson
You never plan on becoming addicted to something, and you don’t really realize it when you are in the middle of it, even when everyone is telling you that you have this big problem....
Voices of Recovery: Clarence “Trip” Barnes III
I started hauling fish to New York. And of course I come rolling into New York at night and the fish auction was at 12:30 am. I’d go down 2nd Avenue, hit every gin...
Voices of Recovery: Tim Wolff
I started doing this work in 2016 and one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is because I like to help others get their life on track. I do it because it...
Voices of Recovery: Nicole Jackson
I used to come here during the summer for family vacations, and then in college I decided I didn’t want to go home and live with my parents. On summer breaks, I came here...
Voices of Recovery: Chip Coblyn
After 35 years, my wife and business partner, Pam, decided to close the doors of Coblyn Design, our graphic design, marketing, and industrial design firm in Washington, D.C., and move to the Vineyard full-time,...
Voices of Recovery: Adam Gendreau
I grew up in Fall River, Massachusetts, and struggled with substance abuse in my own life. About 13 years ago I went through treatment at Gosnold and never left the Cape. I stayed there,...
Voices of Recovery: Howard “Howie” Marlin
The fact I flunked out of was an indicator. I grew up in a very mixed environment where my parents were indoctrinated into the hippy culture, although they were quite middle class. So,...
Recovery resources
Adult Children of Alcoholics: adultchildren.org, acamarthasvineyard@gmail.com
First Stop M.V.: firststopmv.org
Health Imperatives M.V.: 508-693-1208, healthimperatives.org
Island Health Care: 508-939-9358, ihimv.org
M.V. Community Services: 508-693-7900, or 508-693-0032 for 24/7 emergency, mvcommunityservices.org
M.V. Groups of Alcoholics Anonymous, Island-wide list of meetings:...
Statistics show Island’s challenges with SUD
Drug and alcohol abuse on Martha’s Vineyard is more prevalent than it is in most of the rest of the country. According to the 2004 Health Report, 31 percent of full-time adult Vineyarders —...
‘The Island is going to have to figure it out’
The housing situation on Martha’s Vineyard was already in crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The worldwide health crisis has made the situation with rentals and homeownership even more dire, because when families fled...
Is Aspen a model for M.V.?
One of the models affordable housing advocates on the Island have looked at is the Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA), an affordable workforce-housing program.
Deed-restricted workforce housing began in Pitkin County and Aspen in...