Edgar E Easterly, III

EDGAR E. EASTERLY III

1931 – 2026

Edgar E. Easterly III, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, died Tuesday, September 1, 2026. He was 95. Ed was the husband of the late Helen Grow Miles Easterly for 50 years. Born in Muscatine, Iowa, and raised in Columbus, Ohio, he was a resident of Jessamine County for 70 years.

Easterly was publisher of The Jessamine Journal for 33 years, 1957-1990, succeeding Delmar Adams. He began his tenure on April 1, 1956, in Nicholasville with The Jessamine News-Week, and from the outset he was president and chairman of the board of the corporate entity, Jessamine Publishing Company, Inc. Previous experience at age 24 was in Glasgow, Ky. In 1955-56, he was sports editor and general assignment reporter with The Glasgow Daily Times for seven months.

He was a graduate of Ohio University, Athens, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism in 1955. He served in the U.S. Army, 1952-54, separating with the rank of corporal. A graduate of the Guided Missiles Training School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, he was assigned to White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. At the base near Las Cruces, he received advanced training in the Nike and Corporal surface-to-air missile projects.

Easterly won his numerals in freshman football at OU, played two years of Army baseball with Redstone Arsenal and White Sands Rockets, and was a player for seven years with amateur baseball teams in Nicholasville, 1958-64. A graduate of Columbus West High School, he was a member of two city champion football teams, 1947 and 1948.

He is a past member of the Kentucky Press Association, the Kentucky Weekly Newspaper Association, and the Jessamine County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber in 1989 named him its “Nicholasville Businessman of the Year”. In 1990, at retirement, Nicholasville Mayor Sam Corman presented Easterly the Keys to the City Plaque for “Service to Citizens”. That same year, on April 1, the Jessamine Journal property was sold by the publisher to Republic Newspapers, Inc., Farragut, Tennessee.

Easterly was a Kentucky Colonel, a member of the Phi Delta Theta social Fraternity, and a strong supporter of the Jessamine County Senior Citizens Center and Jessamine County Hospice. The late publisher, his newspaper, and staff were often honored for community and institutional support. He was a volunteer food-delivery route man serving clients of Trinity Hill United Methodist Church for 24 years. Once monthly, benefactors were homebound seniors on Lexington's south side. He was a 10-year member with his wife, Helen, of the Wheeler Dealer Square Dance Club in Lexington through 1999. He authored three books in retirement that concerned Columbus, Ohio, Public schools, high school football in that sector, and Midwest sports personalities. He was a member of Southland Christian Church and the Seniors COD Sunday School Class. Afterward, in 2018, the Seniors Searchers Class.

A legacy of Easterly is his codification and administration of the preservation of all Jessamine Journal issues during his tenure on microfilm. The newspaper reproductions are on file at three libraries that have projectors and print apparatus for the years 1957-1990 (through March). Similar preservation applies to Jessamine News-Week issues 1956-57. Additionally, restoration of aging Journal copies (1887-1954) salvaged a wealth of Jessamine County history via microfilm. All newspaper print content is accessible free to the general public at Jessamine County Public Library, B. L. Fisher Library, and William T. Young Library. The former is located in Nicholasville. The Fisher Library is on the Asbury Seminary campus, Wilmore. The Young Library is on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington.

He is survived by a daughter, a son, and a stepdaughter. They are Kimber Payne (Jeff), Lexington; Edgar Easterly IV, Atlanta, Georgia; and Jane Miles Teater (Billy), Jessamine County. Survivors include two brothers: Ellis E. Easterly (Rose Marie), Saverna Park, Maryland; and James C. Easterly Sr. (Barbara), Fairfax, Virginia. Two other brothers, Charles Thomas Easterly (Maria) and Ronald P. Easterly (Marilynn), are deceased. Parents of the five brothers were Ed Easterly Jr. and Ethel K. Easterly. Additional survivors are numerous cherished kinfolk.

Services will be held Wednesday, September 9, at 1:00 p.m. At Betts & West Funeral Home, Nicholasville. Officiating will be Allen Waugh. Eddie Easterly will enter summary commentary. Pallbearers will be Billy R. Teater, Shawn Claggett, and the Easterly family.

Burial will follow the services at Blue Grass Memorial Gardens in Jessamine County. Visitation will be Wednesday, September 9, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the funeral home.