Remember their sacrifices: 4,121 service members have been killed in Iraq - updated on 07/18/2008.
In Memory of Barbara Beck-Ramsay
1950 - 2008
During the Revolutionary War, several patriots made flags
for our new nation. Among them were Cornelia Bridges, Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross,
and Rebecca Young, all of whom were from Pennsylvania, and John Shaw of
Annapolis, Maryland.
Although Betsy Ross, the best known of these persons, made flags for 50 years,
there is no proof that she made the first Stars and Stripes. It is known that
she made flags for the Pennsylvania State Navy in 1777. The flag popularly known
as the "Betsy Ross flag," which arranged the stars in a circle, did not appear
until the early 1790's.
Please view some of Barbara's 4th of July work from previous years
Unitarian Universalist lit a stained glass window at night for one week, in memory of Barbara Beck-Ramsay at her oldest daughter’s request -- Carrie Noseworthy.
Certain features below are not supported by all browsers.
Unless stated otherwise, the graphics, text and content on this site are my own creations.
My genealogy research dates back to 1980.
Everything here is meant to be enjoyed by others. If I wanted to hoard my little treasures, I would keep them in a safe, not on the internet.
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More tigers, bears, monkeys and other creatures at home in the snow.
Music: Winter, by Tori Amos
A Dusting of Snow in D.W. Fields Park
There are 21 photographs of a first snowfall in this Avon, MA park. Photos: Heather Silvestri.
Music: Sarah McLachlin's Song for a Winter's Night
I created Winter Menagerie for my grandson Justin's first birthday. In addition to this snow leopard, you'll see a dozen other animals that share my love of snow. Music: Ken Clinger's First Snow.
My son Erik came up with an idea to fulfill my dreams of a white Christmas.
If you liked the menagerie, visit a different set of Snow Creatures, a page that I created for my granddaughter Chloe's first birthday. You'll find a Siberian husky, Siberian tiger, baby seal, fox, squirrel, wolf, snow leopards, owls, polar bears, swans, ducks and geese. Music: Bless the Beasts and the Children.
Ice Images
These Ice Images are just the right size for winter email calling cards. They are royalty-free. Just click on an image and save it to your hard drive. Music: Classical Interlude.
Ice Show I
Ice Show 2
Ice Show 1 and Ice Show 2 are for snow lovers, snow birds, and perhaps grandchildren who have never seen snow. High speed access is required to view these sites: otherwise, you will want to strangle me by the time you are done. Between the two, there are more than 40 images. Except for the frames I added, these images have not been enhanced in any way. There is no way to best Mother Nature's winter. Music in Ice Show I: Bach Concert in F Minor. Music in Ice Show II: Bring a Torch Jeanette Isabella.
Heather's Snow Scenes
Heather's Snow Scenes is an expanded version of winter scenes photographed by my daughter, Heather Silvestri. The digital pictures feature swans, ducks, birds and other inhabitants of D.W. Field Park in Avon, MA, USA. Music: Bach's Puer Natus in Bethlehem. A shorter version is available in Adobe Acrobat Reader format. The file is a 2M .pdf. Music: Schumann's "Scenes from Childhood." Just click on this link. If you do not have Reader, or if you want to update the version you already have, you can download it for free.
Snow Applets
Snow Applets features eight scenes. Music: The Carol of the Bells by Angels of Venice.
Nana's Winter Alphabet
Nana's Winter Alphabet Page Featuring winter animals and scenes, animations and The ABC Song, this version sung by Dora the Explorer
This was the house in which I grew up in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA. The Allshouse-Ramsay home no longer exists. My self-absorbed and heartless uncle sold the house and land to a pharmacist who demolished the Victorian treasure and replaced it with a cinder block structure.
Most companies strive for simplicity when it comes to their logos. For example, just two letters--GE--stand for General Electric. A single yellow seashell represents the Shell Oil Company. Yet a hundred years ago, the opposite was true. Remarkably intricate illustrations were commonplace on company invoices, letterheads and checks, regardless of the type of business. My new site showcases more than 85 images that illustrate the point. The logos all relate to the operation of Allshouse, Beck and Company, a business created more than a century ago by my great-grandfather, Josiah Allshouse. Enjoy the accompaniment of Beethoven's Fur Elise.
Work on my newest page continues with updated reports and new graphics, photographs, historical maps and links. Click the castle to visit this genealogy site which is devoted to my Scottish ancestors.
The Ramsay Clan and Related German Families
Genealogy reports, photographs, related files and links for these surnames: Ramsay, from Westmoreland County, PA and Fife, Scotland; Sharp, from Clackmannan, Scotland; Allshouse, Altman, Baughman, Beck, Graham, Greer, Helman, Long, Mathias, Rugh and Wilkins, all from Westmoreland County, PA and Germany.
This completed site is part of The Ramsay Room. The pictures are in a Paint Shop Pro Photo Album side-by-side format. When you are finished with the album, click your browser's back button to return here. If you are unfamiliar with genealogy research, you may think the CyberCemetery concept is morbid, but headstone research is a common tool that can provide information that may not exist elsewhere. The headstones documented here are all in cemeteries located in Westmoreland County, PA.
We are researching the surnames Silvestri and Sylvester from Italy and Pennsylvania, and, Ferenc, Ferrence and Radzelovage from Poland and eastern Pennsylvania.
Get on Top--Erik's First Sky Dive
This Victorian lady reminds me so much of my grandmother that I just had to showcase her.
Please visit BBR's 2008 Easter Page
Ellen H. Clapsaddle was a prolific Victorian artist whose work appears on countless postcards. Her lovely Victorian images captivate me. The more Clapsaddle postcards I add to my collection, the more I want to share her work with others. For me, each of the images is like a little trip back through time. To that end, I started scanning my cards but soon noticed that age had not been kind--Clapsaddle's artistry was marred by dulling colors, specks, holes, scratches and deteriorating paper. Since there is no longer a copyright on the original cards, I decided to restore some luster to the fading graphics, examples of which appear here.
Happy Valentine's Day: Ellen H. Clapsaddle Restorations
Music: Danny Kaye's version of Inchworm
Happy Easter: Ellen H. Clapsaddle Restorations
Music: A Disney version of Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Halloween Art: Ellen H. Clapsaddle Restorations
Music: John Barry's version of the theme from Somewhere in Time
Clapsaddle Halloween Restorations II
Music: People are Strange by The Doors
Happy Thanksgiving: Ellen H. Clapsaddle Restorations
Music: We Gather Together
Music: Over the River and Through the Woods
A Present Help: restored Victorian pamphlet illustrated by Ellen H. Clapsaddle
1909 Sunshine's Heart calendar illustrated by Ellen H. Clapsaddle
Clapsaddle: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
"Mechanical" postcards have moveable parts. How these wonderful cards made it through the mail 100 years ago is astounding. I have animated some of these cards to give the viewer a sense of what it is like to turn the wheels that produce kaleidoscopic effects.
Mechanical Christmas Postcards
Animated versions of a dozen vintage mechanical postcards by Ellen H. Clapsaddle and others. Music: The Beach Boys' Little Saint Nick
Mechanical Valentine's Day Postcards
Come and see my new animations of vintage mechanical postcards with valentine themes
Our granddaughter, Chloe, was christened on July 17, 2004 at St. Michael's Church in Avon, MA. Also christened that day was Alex Jeffrey Peloquin, the grandson of my best friend, Judy Peloquin, and her husband Bobby. The babies were born several months apart and so what were the odds that they would both be baptized on the same day by the same priest? Judy and I have been friends for a quarter of a century. Sometimes our paths were mired by chaos and tragedy, but on the day our grandchildren shared the baptismal font, that was a fine day indeed.
Granddaughter Chloe Rene Silvestri
Grandson Justin Graeme Noseworthy
Grandson Connor Christopher Noseworthy
Barbara Beck-Ramsay and Mark Silvestri, 1975
This is my husband and I on our wedding day. We met in college and it was a case of love at first site. Since then, we've had six children together and now, three grandchildren. Our children call him Big Show, like the wrestler, because of his size. The four sites below are all about him. We've had quite a wild ride so far.
My account in the September 11 Digital Archive
Among those killed on September 11, 2001 were victims who jumped or fell from the twin towers at the World Trade Center. I've been researching this topic for some time, but images of these unfortunate souls still take my breath away. I always wish there was something I could have done to help them. With that in mind, I created the angel with the net image which was published last year in the Sept. 11 Digital Archive. Since then, I've worked on this animation for the 6th anniversary of that day.
On September 11, 2001, my son, Erik Silvestri, drove me to Logan International Airport in Boston. I was going to fly to California to join my husband who was on a business trip. As Erik helped me with my bags, we were unaware that two other planes, also bound for California, had already been hijacked from Logan. Shortly after those flights were diverted from their planned routes, my American Airlines plane was idling on the tarmac. All passengers were aboard and waiting to take off when the pilot announced there would be a delay. Then came his startling announcement that all flights across the nation had been grounded. This is how I saw events on that dreadful day.
My Liberty Rising gallery emphasizes the resilience of the American spirit and the triumph of freedom over terrorism. There are 25 renderings here, all of which are my own original creations. These graphics are free. Use them for your site or in your emails. It would be wonderful to launch Lady Liberty into the ethers. Take whatever you want. Click the image and use the "save as" feature to download the image to your computer.
Back From Iraq: A Letter from Home
My brother-in-law, USMC Colonel Duane Silvestri, came back to us from Kuwait, An Nasiriyah, Ad Diwaniya, An Najaf, Karbala, Al Hillah and Baghdad--dusty, dangerous and deadly places all. While Duane was gone, his wife, Teri, gave birth to their son, Aiden. Duane's mother, Helen Silvestri, was with Teri when the baby was born. Everyone in the family waited for the day when our Marine would come home safely. Someone else waited too--Jordan Waugh, a boy who had not even met Duane yet. The subsequent meeting of the boy and the man, and what brought them together, is detailed in a July 4, 2003 feature story, reprinted here with the permission of The Daily World . Mute the volume if you do not want to hear Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." (But then again, who wouldn't want to hear it?)
This video is not typical of my work but it seems inconceivable to me that American soldiers have to rely on supplies funded not through the government but by the people--family, friends, and groups. Did you ever dream there would come a time when you might be asked to buy body armor? With that in mind, this link will take you to a video featuring an acoustic guitar solo accompanied by a presentation of photographs taken by others in Iraq. Music and lyrics by John Vanko.
This video is also available on YouTube and MySpace.
For Those Spending Christmas in Iraq
While Christmas is over, hostilities in Iraq are not. I created this site in December 2003 as a tribute to military personnel who would not be coming home for Christmas. I'm going to keep the site as it is. The links page still provides current information about how you can express your appreciation for sacrifices made by our military and their families.
Other sites:
Fallen Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom
Tim Rivera maintains the remarkable web site that includes short profiles of the fallen.
Casualties in Iraq: The Human Cost of Occupation
Edited by Margaret Griffis
Department of Defense online statistics
My son Erik came up with an idea to fulfill my dreams of a white Christmas.
Here you will find a dozen parodies of Clement C. Moore's classic poem rewritten for various audiences: NASCAR fans; Microsoft users; Floridians; genealogy; computer programmers; rednecks; intellectuals; lawyers; Texans; the politically correct. On the serious side, there is a poem for those serving in the military. Music: Santa Claus is Coming to Town .
Help yourself to some delightful Christmas animations. Music: The 12 Days of Christmas
Founded on December 5, 1776 at the College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest undergraduate honors organization in the United States. I was elected in 1977 while at Penn State University.
Westmoreland County Historical Society
The Westmoreland County Historical Society is an educational organization dedicated to acquiring and managing resources related to the history of Westmoreland County. These resources are then used to encourage a diverse audience to make connections to the past, to develop an understanding of the present, and to provide direction for the future....The Society also administers Historic Hanna's Town, which was the site of the first English Courts west of the Allegheny Mountains.
The Balzer Meyer Historical Society
The Balzer Meyer Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation and study of Old Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania with an emphasis on Southwestern Pennsylvania families. The society is located in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA, USA.
Tay Valley Family History Society
Based in Dundee, Scotland, the Tay Valley Family History Society is the main center for family history research in the Tay Valley area (the former counties of Angus, Fife, Kinross and Perthshire).
The Scottish Genealogy Society
The objectives of this society, also located in Scotland, are to promote research into Scottish family history and to collect, exchange and publish Scottish genealogy data. The organization also publishes a quarterly magazine, The Scottish Genealogist, which is sent free to all members and affiliated societies.
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The Scottish
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* The snowflake capital letters are the work of Jaguarwoman. You can view her creations at: www.jaguarwoman.com
Please take a moment to sign my Guest Book
Unless otherwise stated, copyright held by Barbara Beck-Ramsay, 1980-2008
Visitors since December 16, 2003: