A good year, and not so good; remembering Gary Edwards

Don Estep is Publisher Emeritus of The News Journal.

A new year and hopefully a better one. However, this past year was a good one for me. My daughter and her three children moved to Corbin and that made it exceptionally good.

There were some not so good things happening too. Nationally, climate change brought fire, floods, and devastation. Politically, it was turmoil as usual.
Locally we saw changes take place in some of our elected offices that were both sad and exciting.

After 12 years, Corbin’s longest serving mayor, Willard McBurney, decided to give up the position. Mayor McBurney did an outstanding job and it is sad to see him go.
Then, on the other hand, it is exciting to have the first woman ever to serve as mayor of Corbin, Suzie Razmus. I have no doubts that she will be an excellent mayor.

I served with her on the tourism commission and her mother, the late Nelda Barton-Collings, was part owner of this newspapers for several years. Both outstanding and wonderful people.

The year ended on a sad note as Gary Edwards, one of the most talented persons to have ever come from Corbin, passed away last Wednesday.

Growing up I knew about him, but I did not know him personally because we attended different schools. He went to St. Camillus Academy while I was at Corbin High School.

At that time I heard how talented he was. Then, in 1961 when I started working at WCTT radio station, I was made more aware of his talents through his father Mike Edwards.

I was a disc jockey and Mike would bring us Gary’s records and urge us to play them.

It wasn’t until later that I realized just how good Gary was. He and his band started to gain attention and later his name was appearing on marquees for his performances in Las Vegas.

It was two of his performances in Corbin that provide fond memories for me. One was for a fund raising for the Corbin Varsity Club at the Civic Center. It was the best event ever at the Civic Center.

The other was when he performed at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Nibroc Festival.

When I was a member of the Corbin tourism commission our group wanted the 50th to be the best ever. Gary helped our wish come true.

Gary Edwards was a great showman who entertained audiences throughout the country. His talents will be missed.

•Several times throughout the years I have been the narrator for the Christmas program at my church.

I had that honor again this year and I may have received the most humorous and best compliment I have ever received.

After I had finished a young boy looked up and told his father, “That guy has a future!”

It provided a good laugh and I hope he is right as I approach my 80th birthday. And may the coming year and your future be a good one too!