Vera Baney, of Ellicott City, died May 20, 2008, of heart disease, at her residence. She was 77.

Born June 6, 1930, in Trinidad and Tobago, to Bye and Lutchmin Parasram, she was orphaned at the age of 2 and raised by an aunt and uncle.

She married Ralph R. Baney in 1958.

In 1967, she held her first one-person ceramics show in Trinidad. Subsequent shows followed in 1969 and 1971. Mrs. Baney was commissioned in Trinidad for several works of art including a 16-by-4-foot ceramic mural for the lobby of Scotia Center.

Mrs. Baney and her husband immigrated to the United States in 1971 and settled in Riverdale.

In 1980, she completed her General Educational Development, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in studio art from the University of Maryland. There, she developed skills as a ceramic artist while using unique forms and glazes.

She also began doing sculptures and in the early 1980s held a ceramics show at the OAS Gallery, in Washington, D.C. She taught ceramics for the Community College of Baltimore County, Dundalk for 18 years, until 1998, working also in her private studio in Ellicott City, where she also did printmaking and developed a portfolio of more then 50 prints in etching, wood block, collagraphs and monoprints.

In 2005, she had a one-person show of her prints. She held frequent art shows in Trinidad, including one for the opening of Scotia Center in 1985 with her husband, also an artist.

Family also recalls the strong bond that existed between Mrs. Baney and her adopted son, Clarence. She is remembered as a modest, sensitive and reserved person, who used her religious faith to overcome adversity and carve a niche for herself as an accomplished ceramist.

She was honored by the government of Trinidad and Tobago with the Humming Bird Gold Medal in 1982 for her work as an artist. In recognition of her lifetime achievement as an artist in clay, she was bestowed with the honorary degree of doctor of letters by the University of the West Indies in 2007.

In addition to her husband of 50 years, and her son, Clarence Baney, of Ellicott City, she is survived by a brother, Ivan Parasram, of Trinidad and Florida; a brother- and sister-in-law Narine and Salley Baney, of Arbutus; and several nephews and nieces.

A memorial service was held May 31, 2008, at Hope Presbyterian Church, in Arbutus.

Memorial donations may be made to Vera Baney Scholarship Fund, Hope Presbyterian Church, 4748 Shelbourne Road, Baltimore, MD 21227.

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