A Reunion at “Millie’s” in late August
Madaket was home to Mildred Carpenter Jewett, a Nantucket native commonly referred to as "Madaket Millie" who spent much of her life in the area as a volunteer for the United States Coast Guard. Born in 1907, she served as a Coastal Defense Specialist during World War II, patrolling the Nantucket shores for German submarines and training Military patrol dogs patrols. At one point, she discovered a live mine and towed it away from the shore, where it was disposed of by a Navy minesweeper.
On January 3, 1947, the same day that the Madaket Coast Guard Station was shut down, a Panamanian steamer, the Kotor, ran aground near Madaket. Millie noticed the steamer, and her quick actions in alerting the Coast Guard and organizing a rescue mission were credited with the saving of the ship and crew. Millie continued to serve the Coast Guard on the island in various roles until her death in 1990. She was promoted to the rank of honorary officer in 1965, and she received the agency's Meritorious Public Service Commendation in 1975.
A few words are in order to catch the essence of our story. Madaket Millie lived in a small cottage, not more than a shack, located on the western end of Nantucket, at the edge of the bridge to the furthermost islands, where yet another Nantucketer named Mr. Rogers spent summers for a lifetime. Today, Millie’s little cottage is privately owned and has been spruced up. We have a friend, who lives right across the street on the ocean who has a salt water inlet under that bridge to the next island. As we sat waiting for one of those perfect Madaket sunsets this summer, our friend and owner of this one-of-a-kind spot spied a boater coming into her inlet. The man beached the boat on her land, and she said to him, “Excuse me, can I help you? You just parked on my sand dune.” He said, “I am just here for a few minutes to pick up our takeout dinner from Millie’s Restaurant.” Our friend said, “OK!” I laughted told her she should have charged him for parking, LOL!
Recently, three of us who work together at Archer Martin Associates met one of our consulting colleagues at the restaurant named for Millie, which is walking distance from Madaket Millie’s shack. We had glorious reunion and shared many stories and much laughter together on that sunny afternoon, at the end of which we asked the family at the next table if one of them would take our photograph. Of course, their adult son, did.
We struck up a conversation as the wife observed, “We’ve been watching you. You have given us such a joyous time watching your caring, and fun reunion.” The family went on to tell us that they are from New Jersey and were supposed to be on Nantucket two weeks before, but Hurricane Debby was passing our coastline, so they decided that they sadly had to cancel. She went on to say, “The owners of The Chestnut Inn, where we were registered and paid to stay in town, said, “Don’t worry. We won’t cancel your reservation and keep your money. We really do want you to come and have your time on Nantucket. We have availability for 5 nights any other week you want to come.” The wife said, “And so we are here now! We couldn’t believe the owner’s kindness and sense of caring. That is the same special camaraderie we have witnessed in you all here today.” Her husband noted, “We have been coming here over many years, and we genuinely feel, as we get off the ferry or a plane, that the people in this community truly care about each other. There is a deep sense of community here – and that is what we saw with the four of you today. We want to live here.”
We exchanged phone numbers and photographs and asked them if we could share their story in our blog. For their story is our Nantucket story – share the island and share the joy; reach out to strangers as easily as neighbors; appreciate all we have and pass it on – whether it is giving what you can to a go-fund me for cancer treatments, or dropping off food at the food pantry, or volunteering to take folk up to the top of the tower at the Congregational Church for the BEST view on the island; participate, love where you live, or find it and move to that place.
Place makes such a difference in our lives, and short they be. So grasp every opportunity to live fully where you most feel fulfilled.
©2024 Nancy Martin and Patricia Kepenash
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