Andrea “Poppy” Quigley, poet, teacher, consultant, marketer, and longtime resident of Martha’s Vineyard, died on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, in Boston. She has joined the angels after losing her courageous battle to cancer.
Born in 1941 in New York City, Andrea was raised in Queens and received a B.A. in English from Queens College, an M.A. in liberal studies from SUNY, and an M.B.A. from Simmons College. Andrea studied writing at Skidmore Summer Institute, the Joiner Center at U. Mass, and Cape Cod Writers Institute. She was a much-loved teacher at John Glenn High School in Huntington, N.Y., where she was known as “Mrs. V,” before relocating to Boston to pursue a successful career in business, where she formed her own consulting company, ABQ Associates, specializing in corporate training.
Andrea returned to teaching later in life as a professor at Lesley University and Pine Manor College. After numerous visits to the magical Island, Andrea and her husband Ned moved to Martha’s Vineyard in the early 2000s, where she was an active member of the community, including a member of the Cleaveland House Poets, the Martha’s Vineyard Poets’ Collective, and the M.V. Poetry Society. Andrea served on the boards of Featherstone Center for the Arts and the Friends of Family Planning, and was affiliated with Women Empowered and Peace Quilts for Haiti.
Her voice in the arts, her poetic words, her passion for causes she believed in, and her endearing light will live on through the love she spread.
Andrea was predeceased by her brother Michael. She is survived by her husband, Ned Sternick; children Kimberly Biggs and Scott Vrusho (wife Kate); grandchildren Ashley, Dylan, and Anabelle (who knew her as Poppy), and brother Frank, along with many cousins here and in the Irish homeland.
A celebration of life will be held later in the summer on Martha’s Vineyard; all on- and off-Island folks will be welcome to attend.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name at the following charities: Stand Up to Cancer (standup2cancer.org), and Featherstone Center for the Arts (featherstoneart.org).
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