Basil Clarke: fourteen years as Park caretaker

Basil Clarke joined the Park’s caretakers in June 1992, hired by the Trustees of Gramercy Park. When he retired, effective August 20, 2006, he had spent fourteen years helping care for the garden.

The contemporary Town & Village account records that he had initially expected to stay for ten years. Four years beyond that original plan, he decided it was time to spend more time at home with his family.

A farewell gathering on August 16 marked his years of service. Arlene Harrison, a Park Trustee and president of the Gramercy Park Block Association, organized it with Kathleen Scupp, counsel to the Trustees and chair of the Block Association’s Events Committee. Children already in the Park that day helped with the gathering and joined in a song.

Clarke’s retirement letter thanked the Trustees, past and present, for their support and guidance. Harrison remembered him as a friend to the Park and to the children who knew him there.

For a later caretaker’s story, read the profile of Amando Flores.