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Can an Island Have Nine Lives?

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After this lengthy period of gloom that included losing Coty then making the decision to sell the island, a revival of sorts took place as though Comfort was the cat with nine lives and wanted to treat one more generation of Clarks to the magic of its unique setting. Each new generation of kids has taken varying levels of interest in the obvious activities of fishing, swimming, and boating, but it’s interesting to reflect back on the earliest generation who set a precedent for creative entertainment. Readymade toys like model boats, kites, radios and computing devices weren’t available in 1883. My great uncle, Alson, built box kites that eventually developed into elaborate designs that supported a camera, and he produced aerial photographs long before the Wright brothers embarked on their first flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. During World War I he did aerial reconnaissance for the United States Army over German-held territory in France. Glass plates of his photography still exist at Comfort Island. My grandfather, Mancel, fashioned wooden boat models by hand with crude tools, which served as a precursor to his passion for boating and cruising in particular. I still have a scale model of his cruiser Sabot that he created from wood around 1920. The youngest brother, Eddie, was a child prodigy on the banjo and piano, and he was the catalyst for the three boys hosting “evening attic entertainment” in the late 1880s. Eddie later was elected president of the Yale Banjo Club, and

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