Meet Your Neighbor
Carol Walsh
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
For a quarter of a century she served up your steaming scrambled eggs and buttery pancakes at The Downyflake, starting at its original location on South Water Street, then at its summer quarters at Children's Beach and on to the next and current spot on Sparks Avenue. For the last four years, Carol Walsh, a selfdescribed "people person," has handed up your tickets to ride the Hy-Line ferry and loves everything she has done on Nantucket, including this year's transition of her primary hobby into a small business.

Walsh was born in New Bedford, Mass., and raised in Fairhaven. Her mother, Elvena (Viera) Souza was born here but her family moved when she was a child. Still, relatives remained and Walsh began coming to Nantucket for summers when she was 11. She liked island living so much that in her freshman year in high school she decided to move in with her aunt and uncle, Emma and Jim Lampkin, and stayed to graduate in 1963 from Nantucket High School.

That November she wed Bernie Walsh who was stationed with the Brant Point Coast Guard and soon the couple saw the arrival of their first child, Tammy (Spaulding). Bernie, now a self-employed island telephone technician, was raised in Richmond, Va. When Tammy was about a year old the budding family moved there where their second daughter, Karen (Marsh) was born. The Walshes returned to the island and had their son Jeffrey after building a house on Trotter's Lane, then expanded the family further with their third daughter, Jennifer (Geary).

When Jennifer entered kindergarten in 1978, Carol began working summers at The Downyflake and stayed with the restaurant until about four years ago when she took yearround employment at the Hy-Line. When she is not working, Carol knits up a storm. She was making sweaters for family only, starting with Jennifer's mother-in-law, then for another daughter, then herself, a sister and her eldest daughter.

While creating her soft sweaters in muted shades and of varied designs during the slow times between boats at the Hy-Line office, customers coming in saw what she was making and commented on the beauty of the sweaters. After a little nudging, this summer Carol showed an example of her work to Nantucket Looms owner Liz Winship, who was eager to include them in her handmade inventory. Carol said she has sold 14 sweaters under the label The Brown Button through the Looms since June and sees no end in sight for this new family industry. It includes Bernie who makes the sweater buttons.

"I have to pinch myself when they call me," she said about demands for more sweaters. "Over the Stroll weekend they sold four."

Besides knitting and listening to music, Carol is a socialite in the casual Nantucket sense, and said she will drop whatever she is doing when she has an invitation to spend time with friends. She is very happy with her life and has no big dreams about places she wants to visit or new things she wants to do.

"I feel quite fulfilled. I have an abundance of friends. There is nothing I've done that I haven't wanted to do," said Walsh. "I'm a real people person. I know a lot of people. When they were at The Downyflake I knew people by their first names and through the Hy-Line I know their last

names. It's a lot of fun." I Date of birth: Dec. 20, 1944

Hobbies: Knitting, being with family and friends

Likes best about Nantucket: The networking. She said if people need something, someone will come forward to help.

Likes least about Nantucket: Outpricing the people trying to live here who are finding it harder to make ends meet.

Favorite TV show: She loves game programs