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Isaac Daw Russell of West Tisbury died February 27th at Martha’s Vineyard hospital, just three months after the death of his beloved wife, Gertrude Richards Russell. Born in New York City on January 7th, 1933, Isaac was the first-born child of Henry E. Russell and Faye Rattenbury Russell of Tenafly, NJ and the adored big brother to Clare, Dorsa, Gillian, and Felicity. While attending Kent School in Kent, CT, Isaac was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and rowed for the crew that traveled to London for the Henley Royal Regatta. He came home with a first place medal and a lifetime love of the sport. In 1954 he met the love of his life, Trudy, during a doubles tennis game pre-arranged by his younger sister, Clare, and his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Ann. After graduating with a BA from Yale University, Isaac was promptly sent by the US Army to the Panama Canal Zone for two years. When he returned in 1956, he and Trudy married and moved to Cambridge, MA where he attended Harvard Law School. He liked to mention, with some pride, that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the Harvard Law Review with him, but he also acknowledged with humility that she was much smarter than he.
In 1959, he joined the law firm of Day, Berry, and Howard in Hartford, CT and together with Trudy raised three children, four good dogs, and a couple of inscrutable cats. Isaac was an engaging and attentive father. He read stories aloud most evenings and, following the service on Sundays at Grace Church, led the kids on hikes at the reservoir or bike rides around the neighborhood. He volunteered himself and his children to visit elderly friends and relatives in nursing homes and to ride bikes with the visually impaired. Throughout his life, he worked to build affordable housing in Hartford CT, Johannesburg, South Africa, and later on Martha’s Vineyard.
After years trying to persuade his children to take the Foreign Service exam, he decided to take it himself, and passed! At the age of 56 he left Hartford and proudly became a “junior officer in training” in the US Foreign Service and was soon posted to Zimbabwe as a Cultural Affairs Officer in the US Information Agency, followed by postings to the Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. After “aging out” of the US Foreign Service at age 65, he taught Constitutional Law at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, before returning to West Tisbury to settle in and embrace the role of Grandfather and community member. He was an active congregant of Grace Church, Vineyard Haven, the Howe’s House Conversation Group, and even made a few nerve-wracking forays into island theater.
Isaac’s connection to Martha’s Vineyard began in the 1940s in Oak Bluffs with cousins in the summer and deepened at his parents’ camp on Deep Bottom Cove in West Tisbury. The Russell family enjoyed many summers there, without heat, running water, or electricity, often sailing or paddling across Tisbury Great Pond and riding the waves at South Beach. Isaac and Trudy eventually moved to West Tisbury in 1998 and their house became the welcoming nexus for family gatherings, large and small. Ike’s booming “Hello’s!” welcomed all who came in the door. We will all miss his warm embrace and infectious smile.
Isaac was a man of deep intelligence, an ebullient nature, and numerous accomplishments. He once stated in a quiet moment, however, that what he most wanted was “to be a good person.” And that he was. Eternally optimistic, kind, cheerful, funny, and loving, he found joy wherever he was and spread it generously. Isaac believed that marrying Trudy was the best thing he ever did, and he was a devoted, loving husband for seventy years. We like to think of them reunited once again among the stars.