Letchworth State Park

Biography

Welcome to Western New York, where the young Claire Basney was born in Warsaw County Community hospital, went to Wesleyan preschool, Episocopal church, public school, and secular ballet classes.

Her father, a professor of English, taught at Houghton College, gardened, painted the house red, chatted with little neighborhood boys in diapers, picked berries, and many other things (including losing one end of his index finger to a lawnmower.) (One of my fondest memories is going with Dad to check his mail on the campus and going into the nearby student recreation area. I would there play a game with myself in the darkened room--take one billiard ball, hit it with a ping pong paddle, and chase it before it runs into the chairs, tables, or goes under the sofas. I was too young for Foosball.)

Claire's mother stayed up with the excitement by teaching piano to the neighborhood youth (including her daughter Claire, starting at age 4, and later her second daughter, Lauren, beginning at age 2.) She also gardened and picked raspberries and one of my earliest memories, besides climbing the smoke-bush (I wasn't supposed to) and the apple tree (in my snowsuit), is her bending over in her paint pants to weed the peonies. It was she who brought in the babysitters--Susan, with the feather coat; Melissa, who didn't like to play games; Caroline, who was energetic; and, of course, Grandma, who lived just up the hill...

	I enjoyed almost everything I remember of Western New York--thick snow in winter, kickball in school, evening walks when Dad would carry his walking stick, etc. etc. Until I was ten years old and Mom and Dad decided to embark on an Adventure.  I had just graduated from Mrs. Peet's fourth grade and found myself for fifth in Grand Rapids, Michigan at a new concept: a Christian school. By name, Sylvan. That year we condo-sat for a family and that was the year of the Challenger explosion. It was also the year, for those who remember, that HeMan and SheRa went off the air to be replaced by ThunderCats. Anyone know what I mean?? : )
The next year, another new school: this time outside the city in Ada. My parents lived in Lowell nearby on Grand River Drive (see maps.) Three years later, another school: Grand Rapids Christian High School (near Sylvan) and after four years, Calvin College (near both the other two! My father was now teaching at Calvin and I had three or four classes with him (get your mind around THAT!) Oof! This is longer than I thought. I must have lived a long time. : ) Soon I was off to graduate school (see the Education Links below) but first I worked for a year at a children's bookstore (Pooh's Corner) and for a Scholastic test-grading institution Measurement Incorporated (what is that like? Look at this site.) THEN off to graduate school in library science and, well, here we are!!
	Or rather, here we were.  Two short years and it seems like two weeks--but in reality two weeks ago was graduation, for the second time.  So now it is time to embark on a second try at the "real world."  : )  We will see if it does not end in flight back to the safe world of education.  But for right now, I am more than willing to give it a go. In fact, have done so for five years...
...as Head of Children's Services at the  H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, I have my hands full in the only public library in Vance County.  Yes, you got it!  This means Claire has also lived in North Carolina for five years.  This may seem a little odd since her one and only Daddy actually met with a nasty accident in North Carolina in 1999 and did not survive, but hey--one has to live somewhere.  Besides, Claire has also become a professional storyteller and all her contacts are here.   Latest Pictures...
	Newest update! On June 4, 2005, Claire Basney and Clayton Ramsey were married in a ceremony they themselves designed, in an Episcopal church (St. John's in Versailles, KY) by a Christian Reformed pastor, Jack Roeda. The bride was given away by her godfather, Richard Gould, and attended by her sister Lauren as maid of honor. Her bridesmaids were her two cousins Joanna Dixon and AnnMarie Micikas. The groom was attended by his best man, Chris Gregory, and his groomsmen Amy Smith (now Selmer) and Ben Cauley. Their friend Kevin Cooper was also in attendance. Attending family included: mother of the bride Ruth Basney; parents of the groom Hank and Janelle Ramsey; grandparents of the bride Dale and Edith Dunkelberger; grandfather of the groom Clayton Ramsey; bride's aunts Nyela Basney, Lynda Micikas, Lois Brant, and Janet Dixon and uncle Michael Micikas (photographer); groom's aunts Debbie and Sharon and Uncle Jeff; also assorted cousins, more distant family members, and many many friends. The music included The Shaker Hymn, Bach, a piece originally for celtic harp by O'Carolan, and other pieces, and was played by a piano trio from Yale (names forthcoming.) The reception was held at the parlor of Glide-Crawford Residence Hall at Asbury College, where the bride's mother also had her wedding reception, and besides wedding cake consisted of a British high tea. The honeymoon was June 12 to 19 and consisted of an Alaskan cruise on a Holland America ship, the Amsterdam. For more personal information, such as stories of the bride manhandling a mirror down from the second floor of the church and nearly dropping it multiple times, or why the wedding started 20 minutes late, you will have to ask her. Wedding Pictures, courtesy of Mark Becker

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