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Frank Neal Sibley, 88
Was Baltimore Postal Worker
Frank Neal Sibley died Jan. 26 at Broadmead in Cockeysville, Md., of respiratory failure. He was 88. He was the son of Neal A. Sibley, former postmaster of the Baltimore Post Office, and Hazel Sibley. Frank Sibley worked for many years at the Baltimore Post Office as a superintendent of finance.
He was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1935. In 1939, he married
Marian Halverson of Pella, Iowa and this June would have marked their 65th wedding anniversary. During World War II, he served in the US Navy.
Frank and Marian have a son, Donald, of West Tisbury, and a daughter, Arlene, of Utah. He is also survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. For three decades, he spent summers on Martha's Vineyard in a house built by him and his son. Golf, fishing and especially boating were favorite activities. But most important was his love of family and friends.
Daughter Arlene of Salt Lake City was a Vineyard resident from 1974-1986 and taught in the West Tisbury School. Son Donald and his wife Linda have lived in West Tisbury since 1974. Frank's four grandchildren - Janna, Alene, Ruane and Michael - all grew up in West Tisbury and graduated from the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.
He kept a boat in Lake Tashmoo for many years and played golf regularly at Mink Meadows. Special favorite family activities included the Oak Bluffs fireworks and the weekly family expeditions to the Dairy Queen. Mr. Sibley would fit all nine family members into the station wagon for the trip to Edgartown.
A memorial service will be held at Ascension Lutheran Church, 7601 York Rd., Towson, Md., on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 10 a.m. The family suggests that memorial gifts be made to the Vineyard Conservation Society.
William Herrick, 89
Became Novelist After Stint in Abraham Lincoln Brigade
William Herrick, novelist, onetime revolutionary, disenchanted communist and longtime Aquinnah seasonal resident, died Saturday of congestive heart failure at his home in Old Chatham, N.Y. He was 89. At the age of 21, Mr. Herrick's belief in the Communist fight against fascism led him to enlist in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War and that war became the subject of many of his novels.
He was born in Trenton, N.J., Jan. 10, 1916, a son of Mary (Saperstein) Horvitz and Nathan Horvitz, immigrants from Bylorussia. His father died when he was very young and he and his brother and sister were brought up by their ardently communist mother. The family name was changed to Herrick during the Depression when William's older brother, Harry, an accountant, applied for a job with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Although he ranked highest in the examination for the job, he was turned down on the basis of his name and - needing work desperately at that time - changed his own name to the Anglo-Saxon Herrick so he would be hired. He talked his brother and sister into changing theirs, as well, believing it was wise for their futures.
Mr. Herrick attended elementary school in Trenton and was graduated from the Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn in 1932. Instead of attending college, he decided to make his way, however he could, sometimes by hitchhiking, sometimes by riding the rails, across the United States. By the time he reached Cleveland, he had run out of money, but relatives there found a job for him driving a tractor on a beet farm. As his cross-country journey continued, he worked for a time in Florida at a Miami Beach hotel and took time off to help a fellow communist organize sharecroppers in a southern Georgia community. He narrowly escaped being killed there by the Ku Klux Klan, who drove him out of town. But that did not affect his eagerness to help organize for the Furriers Union when he returned to New York.
In 1936, dreaming that communism could create a more equal economic society and distraught at the rise of fascist rebels in Spain, he volunteered for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of American radicals fighting with the Republican government against the fascist forces of Franco. A few months after his enlistment, he was seriously wounded and returned home where he again went to work for the communist-led Furriers Union. But he had already, while he was abroad, begun to lose faith in communism. He had learned that the communists were bullying and murdering many on the left whom they felt were not Stalinists. Idealistic young Americans were among those being killed.
Mr. Herrick's disaffection with the party led to his ouster from the Furriers Union in 1939, when, at the time of the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact, he marched in front of union headquarters carrying a banner saying "Betrayal."
The Communist Party did, however, pay for his studies to be a court reporter and in the 1940s and 1950s it was court reporting that provided his livelihood. He worked for a while as a freelance court reporter; then as the official court reporter for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District in New York. There, he helped organize the Federation of Shorthand Reporters and became its president. He married
a fellow court reporter, Jeannette Wellin. He also, in this period, worked as a secretary to the late writer-director Orson Welles, whose idiosyncrasies he both wrote about and talked about with amused astonishment.
Dreamed of Writing
But he had always longed to become a writer, and, after dinner each night, he would retire to his typewriter in a third-floor office. Although he was 41 before he began to write, and it took him 10 years to have his first novel, The Itinerant, based on his own life, published, he wrote 11 books and was at work on a twelfth when he died. Above his desk was a picture of George Orwell who, like Mr. Herrick, had fought in the Spanish Civil War and had written about it. "He's the only one I let read over my shoulder," Mr. Herrick, a great admirer of Orwell (to whom he was sometimes compared) would quip.
His work for the court gave him a lengthy summer vacation, and in 1959, the Herricks first came to the Vineyard to visit friends in West Tisbury. They soon were West Tisbury renters, but when they learned of a house available on Lighthouse road in Gay Head, they bought it. A year later, they bought land on the old Ox Cart road near the water and asked Herbert R. Hancock to build a house for them on it.
It was in a shack they moved to the property from their first house that Mr. Herrick worked on his books every day. Among these were three novels on political terrorism - Shadows and Wolves, with a Spanish Civil War setting; Kill Memory, concerned both with the Spanish war and a Nazi concentration camp; and Love and Terror, about the Olympic massacre in Munich at which Israeli athletes were killed. Mr. Herrick also wrote a personal memoir, Jumping the Line: The Adventures and Misadventures of an American Radical. One of his most widely acclaimed books was Hermanos, a war novel which friend and fellow writer William Kennedy called "spectacular."
There were also outings to the ocean beach behind the Rainbow House on Moshup's Trail on sunny days. While their three children enjoyed the surf, Bill and Jeannette Herrick would have political discussions with fellow Gay Head seasonal visitors Mike and Gloria Levitas; Stanley and Joan Halperin, and Dr. Mel Glimsher. Or they would talk of Jeannette's work as a painter and sculptor; early on in their marriage, in addition to court reporting, she had begun painting and sculpting and soon had embarked on a successful career in art.
Good Times in Aquinnah
There were happy cookouts and clambakes on the beach in front of their house with neighbors Larry and Rose Treat; Hugh and Jean Taylor, and Kurt and Ann Pfluger. Singer Carly Simon and her husband, Jim Hart, were also among their friends and once, at a Carly Simon party, Mr. Herrick met Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He longed to dance with her but hadn't the courage to ask, his wife recalls.
Sometimes, of an afternoon, he and his wife would head for the Aquinnah Restaurant for coffee and conversation with owners Anne Vanderhoop and Luther Madison. The Herricks' daughter, Lisa, was an employee there. Although the Herricks voted at their winter address, they were deeply concerned about the political controversies in Aquinnah and the problems of their Wampanoag neighbors.
There were other, quieter moments, when, puffing on a cigar, Mr. Herrick would simply watch the waves and the beach grass blowing in the wind below the family deck. Last week, when he was failing, his wife, seeking to soothe him, recalled for him the waves and the grass of Aquinnah.
"Enough already about the waves and the grass," were his last words to her.
Friends describe Mr. Herrick as an "earthy, hard, tough guy," but also as a great humanist who felt betrayed by the movements and individuals important to him and who spent much of his life writing about that betrayal.
He is survived by his wife of almost 60 years; by three children, Lisa of Washington, D.C.; Michael of Red Hook, N.Y., and Jonathan Goodman-Herrick of Park Slope, Brooklyn, N.Y., and by four grandchildren, Anna, Sarah, Lea and Nicholas. He was predeceased by his brother Harry and his sister Natalie Kriegstein.
A memorial service will be held Feb. 28 at the Jewish Center in the Wesleyan Church in Malden Bridge, N.Y., where two of his caregivers in his final illness, Doreen and Herbert Sheldon of Chatham, N.Y., will be among those paying homage to him in word and song.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in his memory may be made to the Tri-Village Fire Department in Old Chatham, N.Y. 12136, whose members frequently were called upon to assist him in medical emergencies and who responded with warmth and alacrity.
Melvin Blazer, 80
Was Actor and Outdoorsman
Melvin Blazer, longtime summer visitor to Menemsha, died peacefully Jan. 12 in Warwick, R.I., after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis. He was 80.
Mel was born in Providence, R.I., and educated in the local schools, where his interest in performing began. He was graduated from Hope High School in the class of l941. He was an active member of his class reunion committee and kept in touch with classmates in the near and far corners of the world. Mel was delighted to see some of these buddies appear at his 80th birthday surprise party.
During World War II he served as a pharmacist's mate in the U.S. Navy on a destroyer escort in the South Pacific. Following the war he entered the University of Rhode Island and rekindled his interest in the theatre, acting in a number of Shakespearean plays. He was a member of AEPII fraternity. He majored in business and received his bachelor of science degree in l951.
Mel and his new bride, Lois, moved to Warwick, building a house that became their home for 52 years, raising their three children and many beloved dogs throughout their years together. He was rarely seen without one of the dogs at his side.
As Mel established himself in business as a manufacturers' representative in the jewelry industry in Rhode Island, he continued to act in little theatre around the state, even appearing in a New York City Opera touring company production - a bit part, but in full tights!
Mel was affiliated with Temple Beth El in Providence for many years. Earlier, he and his wife were instrumental in establishing Temple Beth Am in Warwick and were founding members of Temple Sinai in Cranston. While at Beth El, Mel joined their troupe of players. A memorable performance there was his comic role as the slick Hollywood director in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite.
Music also played a big part in Mel's life: classical, especially opera; jazz - he did play the saxophone in his youth; Broadway show tunes, often crafting his own lyrics. His most recent performance, this past summer, was an impromptu solo and TV interview featured on the late news, where he sang Moon River, expressing his joy at cruising the transformed Providence River for Waterfire, a confluence of crackling bonfires, spectacular skyline, symphonic surround-sound, riverwalk strollers waving and tossing flowers down on them as the boat passed under the bridges.
An animal lover as well as a nature lover, Mel was able to become certified as a docent at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. His"final" in the program hinged on researching a nearly extinct bird, the NeNe, a rare goose that had lost its ability to fly. The only remaining colony was on a volcano in Hawaii. Fortunately for him, a trip had been planned to that very locale, the island of Maui, where he was able to gather his facts first-hand, with photos. Not surprisingly, he got an A.
Mel was the epitome of the avid outdoorsman. He pursued every outdoor activity with vigor, extreme weather conditions notwithstanding. He was not deterred by tennis in 112-degree heat, nor golf on New Year's Day in ice and snow, nor fishing in near-hurricane conditions. He played hard at tennis, bicycling and swimming, often on the same day. Hardly anything pleased him more than an early game at Angel's up-Island courts, then cycling entirely around the Island, followed by a long swim out of Menemsha. The bracing waters of the North Shore invigorated him. Getting across the sand became more difficult each summer, but Mel never gave up. One season he used his ski poles, another, a special cart. The next year he was pulled and pushed along on a surfboard, then on a boat trailer, amid gales of laughter, the loudest his own. When he was finally able to get down to the water with ease in that rolling beach chair, provided by the generosity of caring Vineyarders, Mel had a few bonus seasons of the most pleasurable and therapeutic swims. He was forever grateful and pleased that others are continuing to enjoy the chair.
Back in the days when he was agile and sure-footed, Mel and Lois hiked and climbed and skied with the Yankee Trailers in Rhode Island and Connecticut and with the Appalachian Mountain Club in New Hampshire and Vermont. He was also able to explore the peaks and valleys of Israel, Hawaii, Alaska, California and Arizona, visiting some Vineyard friends along the way.
Mel cherished his Island pals. He recently recounted these memories and wanted each of them to know that he held them as some of the best reminiscinces of his life: riding the waves with them at Squibnocket; sailing with them around the Elizabeth Islands, to Nantucket, from Narragansett Bay and back again when the winds were right, plus one memorable trip through the Cape Cod Canal; swordfishing with them around Noman's and beyond; digging clams with them at secret spots in Menemsha Pond. Dining with them on fish fresh from the seas and vegetables fresh from the gardens; imbibing with them on the beaches or on the decks, the host or the guest, congeniality ruled. He was a willing regular at yearly Lobsterville clambakes and a spotty regular for the weekly potluck down at the Menemsha docks. Mel had developed an unusual camaraderie with some Aquinnah folks and he counted a good number of Menemsha people as the finest kind of friends and neighbors. He enjoyed attending services and some special programs at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center, where he always had a warm welcome. He and his family have had year-round pleasure from being surrounded by photographs and paintings of Menemsha done by a number of Island artists dear to him.
Mel's indefatigable spirit propelled him through a series of surgeries and complications, but he was amazingly resiliant and nothing ever got him down for long. He was known to the medical community as "the comeback kid." His sharp memory and his positive mental attitude were extraordinary. His courage and unfailing good humor touched all who have had the good fortune to travel along the path with him.
He leaves a loving and devoted family: his wife, Lois, his daughter and son in law, Stacey and Steve Chaffee of East Greenwich, R.I.; daughter Karen Blazer of Montpelier, Vt.; son Stuart Blazer and granddaughter, Sofia, of Little Compton, R.I., and Terceira, Azores.
Donations may be made to the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center or the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Rhode Island Chapter.
Jill J. Rourke
Was 61, Lived in Vineyard Haven
Jill J. Rourke of Mashpee died in her home on Feb. 3 after a long illness. She was 61.
She was born in Fort Benning, Georgia to Louise (Teich) Johnson and the late Rueben B. Johnson Jr. and was the beloved wife of Raymond R. Rourke.
Mrs. Rourke was a longtime resident of Storrs, Conn., before moving to Martha's Vineyard, where she lived for 27 years. She worked for 18 years at the Martha's Vineyard National Bank. She recently moved to Mashpee.
She is survived by her husband, Raymond, and mother Louise. Mrs. Rourke is also survived by her daughter, Laura B. Bernard of Vineyard Haven; a son, Rueben B. Johnson 3rd of Palm Beach, Fla.; and two grandchildren, Zachary E. and Amanda L. Bernard, both of Vineyard Haven.
A private funeral service was held at the Storrs Congregational Church in Mansfield, Conn. with a private burial in the Storrs cemetery. Arrangements were under the care of the Chapman Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Mashpee.
Donations may be made to the Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod Inc., 270 Communication Way, Hyannis, MA 02601.
David N. Silva, 44
Was Marine Corps Veteran
David N. Silva, 44, died on Friday, Jan. 23, at his residence in North Carolina. He was a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring with the rank of gunnery sergeant, and was a veteran of combat in the Gulf War.
He is survived by his wife, Evelyn J. Silva of Newport; two sons, Kodi Silva and Colin Silva, both of the home; his mother, B. Jean Silva, of Newport; his father, William A. Silva, of Massachusetts, and a cousin, Callie Silva, of Chilmark.
Services were held on Tuesday, Jan. 26, at the Base Chapel aboard Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. Interment followed in Fort Mitchell National cemetery in Seale, Ala.
Flowers are welcome or other memorials may be made to Hospice of Carteret County, P.O. Box 1818, Morehead City, NC 28557.
Nancy S. Travers, 70
Summered in Oak Bluffs
Nancy S. Travers, of Cohasset and Oak Bluffs, died on Jan. 30 at the Oak Knoll Nursing Home in Cohasset following a long illness. She was 70.
Born in the Dorchester section of Boston on Feb. 17, 1933, she was the daughter of the late Carl J. Marshall and Helen G. (Sutherland) Marshall. She was the wife of the late John J. Travers, to whom she was married
for 37 years.
Mrs. Travers lived in Scituate from 1954 to 1998 having moved there from Milton. She also maintained a home in Oak Bluffs with her daughter, Susan Desmarais, an outreach worker for the Edgartown Council on Aging.
She was a graduate of Regis College and was employed as a bank manager for the Hingham Federal Credit Union in Scituate prior to her retirement. Mrs. Travers enjoyed reading and needlework.
Mrs. Travers is survived by her daughter, Susan, of Oak Bluffs; a sister, Joyce A. Noble of South Amboy, New Jersey; and 13 nieces and nephews.
In accordance with Mrs. Travers' request, funeral services were private. She was buried in Fairview cemetery in Scituate. Arrangements were under the direction of the Dyer-Lake Funeral Home of North Attleboro.
Francis R. Boyd, Age 77
Was a Noted Geologist
Francis R. (Joe) Boyd, 77, a geologist whose research contributed to the understanding of the formation of the earth, died of sepsis on Tuesday, Jan. 13, in Washington, D.C. He lived in Chevy Chase, Md., but had enjoyed summers on Martha's Vineyard since the 1960s and owned a summer residence in West Tisbury for the last 30 years. Many of his happiest days were spent at the cabin on the Tisbury Great Pond. He loved exploring the ancients ways in the woods around the pond, sailing his Sunfish or canoeing on the pond. He found the peace of his Vineyard cabin a perfect setting for writing his scientific papers. Many mornings were begun with a refreshing swim in the pond waters.
Joe (as he was known to family and friends) Boyd was born on Jan. 30, 1926 in Boston, to Sarah Lyles Boyd and Francis R. Boyd, a prominent Boston attorney. He attended the Milton Academy in Milton, and was graduated in 1943. He continued his education at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in geology in 1949. While at Harvard, Joe worked summers during World War II as a welder in the Charlestown Navy Yard. He was awarded an M.S. from Stanford University in 1950, an M.S. from Harvard University in 1951 and a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard University in 1958.
Dr. Boyd was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the Geological Society of America, a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, a past president of the Geochemical Society and a past president of the Geological Society of Washington. He was a longtime member of the Cosmos Club of Washington.
Late in 2003, the Mineralogical Society of America named him recipient of the 2004 Roebling Medal, awarded for his lifetime contributions to the understanding of the geologic development of the earth.
Mr. Boyd spent his entire career doing research at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. His earliest research involved study of the origin of volcanic rocks in Yellowstone National Park. There, he discovered that the volcanic eruptions that formed Yellowstone Plateau produced rocks of an unusual type, called welded tuff.
His Yellowstone research received popular attention in the early 1990s with production of an IMAX film, Yellowstone. The script for the film was reviewed and authorized by Mr. Boyd and the film was shown at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and at the West Yellowstone Feature Park.
In the 1960s, he developed with John England a piston-cylinder device to simulate in the laboratory the pressure exerted on minerals deep within the earth. The device provided scientists with a tool to determine the composition of minerals and rocks formed deep within the earth. Known as the Boyd-England device, it was used to create a synthetic diamond.
He was a leading expert on the 3.5-billion-year-old Kaapvaal craton in southern Africa. Cratons are the oldest and most stable rocks of the continental crust. The research he conducted in southern Africa has led to further studies in Siberia and elsewhere around the world. He was the principal author or co-author of more than 75 scientific papers. He retired in 1996 but continued active research until shortly before his death.
Joe Boyd was an avid outdoorsman, committed conservationist and a vigorous supporter of Vineyard conservation groups, including the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation, Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, the Vineyard Conservation Society and The Trustees of Reservations. He loved hiking with his family over these beautiful properties, particularly Sepiessa Point and Cedar Tree Neck. He was a keen observer and delighted in sharing stories of his travels around the world.
He enjoyed bird watching in the many different environments all over the Island, and kept nesting boxes on his property, which led to studies of various nests, often built upon one another. One of his hobbies was carpentry. He loved making furniture for his cabin from salvaged driftwood. With his wife, Margo Kingston, he had a great time playing croquet as a member of the Edgartown Croquet Association. Although he enjoyed sampling the fare at Vineyard restaurants, he achieved culinary renown among family and friends with his grilled stuffed lobster, stuffed quahaugs and the many barbecues featuring fresh caught fish from Menemsha village shops.
In the 50th reunion book for Harvard College, he wrote: "I don't know what I deserve, but what I have had has mainly been a very good life."
He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Margo J. Kingston, also a geologist, of Chevy Chase; a daughter, Hadley Boyd, of Washington, DC; and a son, Duncan Boyd, of Kittery Point, Me.; stepdaughters Suzanne LaPiana of Washington, DC; and Siobhan LaPiana of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and a stepson, Vincent LaPiana of Arlington, Virginia; two grandchildren and four step-grandchildren; and a sister, Harriet B. Sedgwick of Scarsdale, NY. His marriage to Barbara Boyd ended in divorce.
Robert J. Taylor, 86
Was Historian and Educator
Robert J. Taylor, 86, of Oak Bluffs died on Jan. 29 in Windemere Nursing Home after a 13-year struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
He was a historian who was editor in chief of the Adams Papers for the Massachusetts Historical Society from 1975 until his retirement in 1983. He was a professor of history at Tufts University from 1965 to 1975, and at Marietta College in Ohio from 1950 to 1965. He served as visiting editor of publications at the Institute of Early American History in Williamsburg, Va., from 1964 to 1965. During his career he wrote and edited several articles and books published by the Institute, including Massachusetts Colony to Commonwealth, a study of the formation of the Massachusetts constitution. His first book, Western Massachusetts in the Revolution, published by Brown University Press in 1954, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote Colonial Connecticut - A History, published by KTO Press in 1979, and edited the last seven volumes of the Susquehanna Papers, a study of 18th-century land claim disputes in what is now northeastern Pennsylvania.
From 1960 to 1962, Mr. Taylor was a Fulbright visiting professor at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan. During this time he also taught at Tokyo University, Waseda University and at Taipei University in Taiwan.
Mr. Taylor was born and raised in Springfield, the son of Joseph and Hypatia Jane Taylor. He graduated from Classical High School in 1935, earned a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1939, an M.A. from Penn State University in 1941, and a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University in 1952. Her served in the infantry during World War II and was wounded in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany.
Mr. Taylor retired to Oak Bluffs with his wife, after many years of visiting her family, the late Shirley and John Painter, in Vineyard Haven. He served 10 years as a mediator of the Dukes County District Court, and was an active member of the Oak Bluffs Council on Aging, where he organized a weekly Conversations group. He co-founded FOBCA, Friends of the Oak Bluffs Council on Aging, a support group that raised funds for the senior center. He also was a board member for Elder Services and delivered Meals on Wheels for many years.
Mr. Taylor leaved his wife of 62 years, Alice Jo Taylor, his granddaughter, Eve Heyman Tuminaro, and her husband, David Tuminaro all of Oak Bluffs, and a niece, Jenny (Painter) Seward of Vineyard Haven. He also leaves his three children, Joel Taylor of Bexley, Ohio, Laurel Heyman of West Newbury and Paul Taylor of Palo Alto, Calif., seven other grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and many nieces and nephews.
Services will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of one's choice. Arrangements are by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.
