Virginia Best Clarendon

Born July 3, 1925 in Utica, New York to Tharratt Gilbert Best and Helen Ney Best, she grew up in Boonville, NY where she attended public school through the seventh grade. She went on to the Utica Country Day School when her parents moved to Whitesboro, NY. She completed the last two years of high school at the Masters School, Dobbs-Ferry-on-Hudson, NY and then attended Smith College in Northampton, MA, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1947. After college, she worked as a photographic assistant at LIFE magazine in New York City. In 1950 she married David P. Clarendon, and then moved to South America, living in Montevideo, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina until 1955. They moved back to the US and resided in New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida before retiring to Cape Cod in 1977.

Ginnie and Dave enjoyed many trips together, both domestically and overseas. She self-published three books, two of which were based on her travel journals and the third based on her father’s diaries, which were written in French and covered the first six decades of the twentieth century. Ginnie was a trained singer and sang in choirs and choruses all her life. She played the piano and guitar, and loved tennis, golf and skiing. Ginnie and Dave enjoyed sailing in the waters of South America, Florida and Cape Cod. She loved to garden and was always happiest out-of-doors. She often went camping with her family at North Pond in upstate NY.

She volunteered for many charitable organizations and worked briefly as a teacher. She was a member of the League of Women Voters, the Eastward Ho! Country Club and the Chatham Platform Tennis Club. Ginnie served on the Orleans Cultural Council. She was a life-long member of the Episcopal Church. She faithfully attended the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans, MA, where she sang in the choir, served on the Altar Guild, was a vestry person and president of the Episcopal Church Women.

Her proudest achievement was to be a mother, and to her family she was the best ever. She is survived by her three sons: David T. of Wyoming, Richard P. (with daughter-in-law Susan) of Florida, and Christopher G. (with daughter-in-law Kathy) of Rhode Island, as well as seven grandchildren: Ben, Daniel, Jackson, Sadie, Maggie Jo, Matthew and Emmett Clarendon.

Her family will hold a celebration of life to be held October 12, 2024 at 11am at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans, or to the donor’s favorite charity.