By Marsie Hall Newbold
Enquirer contributor

Who: Claudine Shank, 88, of Greenhills, a grandmother of six who answers to the nickname Ladybug.

On display: More than 100 ladybug items including: pajamas, slippers, Christmas ornaments, oven mitts, dishtowels, coffee mugs, greeting cards and a doormat. She also owns ladybug plant stakes, a trowel, four aprons, a serving tray and paintings by local artists.

Claudine Shank and part of her ladybug collection (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

Where: Throughout the home she shares with her youngest daughter, Candace.

The very beginning: "My children gave me the nickname Ladybug back in the early '60s," Mrs. Shank says. "At the time I was the `nature lady' for the Girl Scout day camp in Sharon Woods." (Mrs. Shank holds a bachelor's degree in botany and a master's in ecology from the University of Cincinnati.)

By any other name: "Everyone at the camp picked nature names," she continues. "Mine was originally Firefly. But one day the son of one of the camper's mothers came up to me and said: `Hi Horsefly!' When my children heard that they were horrified and insisted that I had to change my name, and Ladybug is what they came up with."

Variations on a theme: Her new moniker opened a floodgate of gifts. Her children and now grandchildren picked up on it and started presenting her with ladybug items. They never fail to delight the recipient.

"I'm not hard to buy for at all," Mrs. Shank says with a chuckle. "Anything with a ladybug will do."

Hidden meaning: In addition to her ladybugs, Mrs. Shank collects other items, including postage stamps. That is how she found out that the ladybug is a symbol for happiness and good luck. It was on an English stamp.

"My children didn't realize that when they gave me the name," she says. "They just thought it was cute."

Pulling his leg: One of Mrs. Shank's favorite Ladybug moments was when she met artist Charlie Harper, whose work she greatly admires.

"He has used a ladybug motif many times in his work," she says, "Around his home and on his mailbox. So, I introduced myself to him as a two-legged ladybug."

Eeek! Mrs. Shank's "nature lady" experience came in handy this past summer when many friends and neighbors were troubled with ladybug infestations.

"Some people just had a tizzy," she says, laughing. "Ladybugs are more than harmless, although those Oriental ones did bite. I'm a gardener, so I get real tickled when I see one. So needless to say, I was just amused."

Share your prize possessions with Marsie Hall Newbold by mail: c/o The Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202, e-mail: marsolete@aol.com. Please include a daytime telephone number.