The rest of the story


‘Tut’ Tuttle, Joan Young, Tom Young, Mary Travers and Jackie Tuttle at the Westbury Music Fair, August 21, 1992.

To the Editor:


The Reporter gave Mary Travers a well-deserved tribute. She cherished her life and friendships on Shelter Island. She went on to become a star but never forgot her past. As Paul Harvey would say, “Here’s the rest of the story.”


It all began at the Sunrise Theater in Fort Lauderdale on February 8, 1992.


Through station WLYF I was able to make the right connections. It’s who you know that gets you there. I contacted the theater manager and arrived early with my letter to Mary and a dozen roses to be sent backstage before the show. My friend Carl Sabal, who was visiting us that weekend, accompanied me. Mary was in his high school class for a while one year. While on stage, she mentioned there was an old friend in the audience that she hadn’t seen in 40 years. After the show, we used our backstage passes to visit her. What a welcome! She took me aside and showed me her family pictures and awards. I had known her mother, too, because I read the meter at the old “Offord House” by the creek that they rented in Shorewood. That was the beginning of her reunion with Shelter Island, and her plans to visit someday.


The next show was August 21, 1992 at Westbury Music Fair, accompanied by the Tuttles. There was a mix-up with the backstage passes afterward and the guard would not let us go back to see her. Then I saw Peter Yarrow. He knew I was Mary’s friend and got us back to see her. Shelter Island dominated the rest of the evening. It was special to her and she wanted to share it. We went again the next year and got to meet her husband, Ethan Robbins.


Joan and I went to her show in Palm Beach and visited with her an hour before it started in 1996. I went to see her in Coral Springs, Florida in April 1997, and at that time, she hoped to come to the Island in June. I had surgery in June and didn’t get to see her. 


To my knowledge we never got to any more shows. The visits with her were always special. She always made you feel welcome.


TOM YOUNG


Murrells Inlet, South Carolina