June I. Close

June Close, 95, passed away on Wednesday, March 16 at St. Peter’s Hospital, Albany due to complications from COVID. She had been a resident in Assisted Living at the Plains at Parish Homestead in Oneonta since October, 2019, and had previously resided near Colliersville.

June was born on February 6, 1927 in the Bronx, New York City, the daughter of the late James A. and Elizabeth (Davidson) Hennessey, who died in childbirth.

June married Donald E. Close on October 30, 1948 at the North Kortright United Presbyterian Church in Delaware County, and was pre-deceased by her husband, Donald, on October 18, 1995.

When she was three years old, June, accompanied by her father, and grandmother, Irene Davidson, moved from New York City to the Titus Hill/Titus Lake are of North Harpersfield where her father and grandmother raised her on a hardscrabble 50-acre dairy farm near Jefferson. She attended the one-room Fuller District schoolhouse in her early years before the Jefferson Central School District came into existence in the 1930s. Her formative years on Titus Hill cemented lifelong friendships, among them, Barbara (Summers) Marusiak of Cabot, AR, and Mabel (Totten) Faoro of Grand Gorge, who miss her dearly, and many others. Along with those friends, June enjoyed riding her pony “Buster” bareback along with all the adventures that came with growing up on a farm with no electricity, indoor plumbing, or furnace; along the way, she learned to play the accordion with some measure of accomplishment. Before graduating from Jefferson High School, June worked at the Cold Springs Hotel in Stamford; following graduation, she and her family friends made a cross-country road trip to Arizona remarkable for the fact that no interstate highways existed back then. Her love of driving may very well have begun then, if not earlier on a farm tractor.

June went to work as an operator for New York Telephone Co.’s Stamford office, where she met her husband, Donald, whom she married on October 30, 1948. They shared a love of flying made possible by the purchase of a Taylorcraft single engine plane; while June never officially obtained her pilot’s license, she was proud of having made a solo flight (and surviving). Early on, they lived in Sharon Springs, then Stamford, and finally settled in Oneonta in 1959 where she has since resided. From 1971 to 1989 she worked as a Teacher’s Aide for Special Classes with B.O.C.E.S. in the Oneonta and Laurens Schools. Following the death of her husband, she became an active traveler, making two trips to Alaska, and exploring the US, Canada, and beyond. She loved exploring new places and making new friends.

June was an early advocate for autism, when recognition and resources for treating autism disorders was scant to non-existent, the impetus being her son, Gary. With the help of Dr. Campbell Goodwin and Dr. Mary S. Goodwin of Cooperstown, she and a handful of other parents chartered the founding of the National Society for Autistic Children.

June was an active member of the Cooperstown Junction United Methodist Church, the Otsego County A.R.C, and a former member of the Susquehanna Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, and the Oneonta League of Women Voters.

June is survived by her three sons and a daughter-in-law, Dr. Theodore D. and Sharon Close, Wynantskill, James E. “Jim” Close, Mechanicville and Gary M. Close, Oneonta; four grandchildren, Madeline Close and Stephen Goodsell, Kaitlyn and Ed Tse, Genevieve and Alastair Paterson, and Julie and Benjamin Wajda; five great grandchildren, Zoe, Helena, Matthew (Madeline), Eloise, Penelope (Kaitlyn); cousin Mrs. Ralph (Eileen Davidson) Wilber, Schoharie; sister-in-law, Ella (Close) Eldred; six nieces, four nephews as well as several grandnieces and grandnephews.

Calling hours will be held on March 22, 2022 in the Bookhout Funeral Home, 357 Main Street, Oneonta from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. A funeral service will immediately follow at 2:00 PM with the Rev. Al Bullard officiating. A gathering to remember June will follow at the Club House at the Peaceful Flats Retirement Community in Oneonta. Burial will be at a later date in the Maryland Cemetery.

Expressions of sympathy in memory of June may be made to the American Diabetes Association, Utica Regional Chapter, 110 Lomond Ct, Utica, NY 13502 or to the Cooperstown Junction United Methodist Church, in care of Pastor Albert Bullard, 265 Eddie Martin Rd, Milford, NY 13807.

Online condolences to Mrs. Close’s family may be made by visiting: www.bookhoutfuneralhome.com.

Condolences may also be sent by mail to: James E. Close, 3 Brightman Rd, Mechanicville, NY 12118.

Funeral arrangements are by the Bookhout Funeral Home, Oneonta.