The Shadow
Jeremy Bastian, an IT Engineer who moved from Richmond to Clifton Forge in 2020, works out of the office in the home that he owns in Clifton Forge.
Bastian was born in New Orleans in 1986, and Wilbert Bastian, his father, was a ramp worker for Southwest Airlines before he recently retired.
Jeremy and Tanynike Bastian, his wife, have three children, Josiah, seven; Jalisa, eight; and Steven, 22.
After working in New York where Tanynike is from and in Providence R.I., Jeremy moved to Richmond, but shortly thereafter, he and his wife decided to look for a family community in Virginia outside of a large urban area.
The couple settled in Clifton Forge, and Jeremy decided to run for the Clifton Forge Town Council because he believes that he has the leadership qualities and expertise to help unite people.
So far, Clifton Forge has provided the safe haven for which Jeremy and his family were seeking. He observed, “The town is kid-friendly, and everybody is looking out for one another.”
During his participation in the community gathering that took place on Oct. 20, in The Historic Masonic Theatre, Jeremy said, “People need to feel that they are part of the community.”
He noted that absentee landowners are a problem when they fail to properly maintain their property.
As a 2009 graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Providence R.I., Jeremy has been working for more than a decade as a computer expert who can diagnose and resolve computer technology-related issues and design computer programs as a networking engineer.
As for why he chose to run for a seat on the Clifton Forge Town Council, Jeremy revealed, “Mainly, I want to help the town to move forward and help progress.”
In his opening statement at the community gathering, Jeremy stressed the importance of listening to others and pledged to support the majority if elected.
