Barbara Wynne McClure was born in Manhattan, schooled in New Jersey, and, after her father passed away, moved to Glens Falls, NY, with her mother and younger sister. There she attended Glens Falls High School. This was during the Depression, and qualified boys were being inducted for service for World War II.

At age 21, she was asked to speak as a new voter on the Memorial Day podium in the town park. History professor Harold Long then approached her to ask if she would be interested in organizing a young adult group for the community. A young woman, Dorothy DeGrush, offered help along the way. An interested bunch of young women and men still at home quickly formed and called themselves The Young Adult Civic League. Thus began Wynne’s life.

Around the same time, the Experiment in International Living was formed in Vermont and the Young Adults became involved with the project. When the war ended, Glens Falls began sending two Young Adults per year to a European country of choice. Wynne, then employed as a writer for radio commercials, fashion shows, and an in-house employee newsletter “Chatterbox,” was selected and sent to Bonn, Germany, which left an indelible impression on the rest of her life.

Upon her return home, she became a fashion buyer. Though she enjoyed excellent, thoughtful employment with Merkel & Gelman, she yearned for a wider scope. In 1953 she moved to Rochester, NY, and found work as an advertising copywriter. After marriage and three toddlers, she settled into freelance writing and poetry. She joined Rochester Poets, Writers and Books, Just Poets, and with four others created the poetry group Five in the Afternoon.

Wynne’s poetry has been published in numerous anthologies in the Finger Lakes area and has had national exposure on the Internet. She won First Prize in the 2003 issue of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Signatures magazine and Honorable Mention in the Miller’s Pond Loella Cady Lamphier Contest. She was published in Voices of the Gallery by the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. Wynne was also a collaborative poet with the Rochester Art Club in 2007 and the Women in Music Festival at Eastman School of Music in 2008. She passed away September 7, 2015. Her notice can be read here.

Her books include:

The Hidden Self (FootHills Publishing, 2004)

Torn for Peace (with Paul Bither) (FootHills Publishing, 2005)

My Lonely Luxury (FootHills Publishing, 2008)

Reach for the Universal Flower (East River Editorial, 2013)

Water Falling on Fallow Ground (East River Editorial, 2013)

Bulldogs and Butterflies (East River Editorial, 2014)

Barbara Wynne McClure: Collected Works (limited edition, East River Editorial, 2015)