Welcome. Edgartown News was born from the simple fact that I have ink and Dektol in my veins and I need to write and photograph more than I need air or food, and from my love for this little town where I grew up and raised my family, the town I have left a few times but can't quite shake for good. Here you will find the wanderings and musings, photographs and commentary; the people, places, and happenings - past and present - of a small island town: my home town.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Patricia Neal



 One of our town's more celebrated residents, Patricia Neal, died on Sunday at age 84, at home. Miss Neal, star of stage and screen, and well-known for her grace, courage, determination, and dignity, had been dwelling in our midst for the past thirty-one years. I did not know Miss Neal personally - as most of us have learned to do from our many years of bumping elbows with celebrities, I respected her privacy (certainly one of the reasons famous folks choose to live here, I think), but I did have one conversation with her on Main Street last summer that I will always remember fondly. Patricial Neal's presence added much to our town. She will be missed. 
(Vineyard Gazette story here, and an interview with Miss Neal conducted by my daughter-in-law in the May/June 2009 issue of Martha's Vineyard magazine, here.)

This morning, in search of a simple photo with which to illustrate this posting, perhaps a simple shot of a flower poking through a fence, I rode my bike down to Miss Neal's neighborhood - tentatively, not wanting to intrude on a grieving family - and what I found was a truly lovely and poignant tribute to Miss Neal. Buckets of flowers had been placed on the fence posts at the entry-way to her home, and there was gentle classical music wafting from an open window, all obviously arranged carefully and deliberately, a gift for her friends, fans, and passersby; a loving tribute, both to Patricia Neal - to her beauty, her charm, and her graciousness - 
and to the town she had called home. 

Thank you, Patricia Neal.


2 comments:

  1. Many of us have especially warm memories of brief encounters with Patricia Neal.

    I have occasionally wondered why I so fondly recall a brief exchange of pleasantries, over 15 years ago.

    I now realize that, unlike other celebrities, Ms Neal did not convey the slightest suggestion that she was someone special. She greeted my family as if we were special.

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  2. Yaakov - very well said. Thank you.

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