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Lost a Friend

Chester fans of literature, good cheer, and reliable information resources lost a friend recently in the passing of Leigh Basilone of Deep River. Leigh was part of the library staff at the Chester Public Library from 2007 until a few years ago. Leigh died about a month ago after struggling with Alzheimer's disease, an obituary in the Valley Courier reported in the March 28 edition.

Leigh showed an always upbeat and engaged personality to the world and could converse intelligently on a range of subjects from dogs to politics to recipes to sports cars. Leigh drove stick shift cars and could be seen breezing around top down in her red Mini convertible or piloting her husband David's Alfa Romeo convertible on more rare occasions.

People who read and probe and think are increasingly rare it seems, and as the internet blasts and dumps all sorts of information out — making fiction out of reality and attempting to make reality out of fiction — a library and its resources, including librarians, make great fact-checkers. As a Chester library regular, I know I speak for many who found Leigh to be that increasingly rare individual: informed, well-read, and factually accurate with good cheer. The memories of Leigh Basilone and all the good she gave to the world will live on. An end, perhaps, to a life story come to a conclusion sooner than we would have hoped, but a story of a life well lived nonetheless.

Joe Cohen

Chester