Jan. 15, 2013
For Immediate Release

By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — Ed McGuire was a good man.

He was the definition of a gentleman and a loyal friend Rob Collins, who works for Commonwealth Broadcasting, said.

 

whom I could share anything and know it would be kept between us.”

Jimmie Wooley, who worked with Ed many, many hours, said, “There was no mistake about what he held dearest to his heart - his love of God.

“There are many people who were probably closer to this man, but no one that will miss him anymore than me.”

McGuire, who died Saturday night at the Campbellsville Retirement Home, was a Campbellsville University alumnus of 1961 and a major part of Campbellsville University's television program. He was a volunteer who worked tirelessly, along with Ginny Flanagan, a CU alumna who now serves as special assistant to the president at CU, to get TV-4 (now called WLCU) on the air and improving daily - even hourly.

He painted the old studio at Bethany House, where CU's president's home now stands, he taught fledgling adults how to edit, and he spoke kind words when they messed up. He was said to be able to build a TV station with a handful of paper clips and some duct tape.

“It's like an era passing,” Flanagan said. “Thinking back, the thought that we could have done what we did without his assistance … well it simply would not have happened.”

Campbellsville University's TV-broadcast program began in the late 1980s, and McGuire was there throughout it all - especially as host of the popular program, “What's Cooking, Neighbor?” where he talked and laughed his way through a cooking lesson, performed by others as he watched and commented.

“We would like to extend our heartfelt sympathy to Mrs. McGuire and family on behalf of all of the Campbellsville University family,” Dr. Michael V. Carter, president of Campbellsville University, said.

“Ed McGuire was the very essence of what it means to be a Christian servant leader. In addition to his career with the Kentucky Educational Television network, he spent a number of years working with CU students as a professor and mentor.

“He was a pioneer in providing leadership and technical expertise for our broadcasting and mass communication programs. Ed McGuire was a tireless servant who made many contributions to his church, community and state, and the CU family. He will be missed.”

One of those students, to whom he was a mentor and friend, is Alan Haven, who is production assistant with WLCU-TV and FM.

“I first met Ed when I started school here at Campbellsville University as a freshman. Throughout my years as a student and now as an employee, I could always count on seeing a friendly smile from Ed every time I walked in the door.

“Ed was much more than a co-worker and mentor, he was a friend. Ed was a friend who cared and took the time to invest in not only my life, but in the lives of countless others to help them succeed in whatever area of life God was leading them in.

“Ed will be missed here at WLCU as well as around the campus because of the number of lives he touched and was a part of everyday. I consider it an honor to have met and known Ed McGuire.”

McGuire touched school children's lives throughout Kentucky as he worked 25 years for KET as an educational consultant connecting television in classrooms throughout the Commonwealth. “He loved what he did, and it was a joy to work with him,” Flanagan said.

He also touched lives as he taught at Taylor County Schools as a science and math teacher and instructional supervisor. He taught Sunday School at Liberty Baptist Church for more than 25 years. His family requests that donations be made to Liberty Baptist Church or Gideon Bibles.

Wooley, who worked with McGuire at WTCO, the local AM radio station, said they spoke by phone less than two weeks ago. “He was asking me how he could record, on a laptop computer, a Sunday School lesson which he was planning to let residents at Sunrise Manor (in Hodgenville where he was staying at the time) hear over the facility's public address system.

“His Sunday School lessons, his devotional messages, his testimony, his public life were all an opportunity to spread the word.”

Together at the 8th Annual Media Appreciation Luncheon were from left: Ed McGuire, after winning the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Department of Mass Communication; First row — Joan McKinney, Al Hardy, Ginny Flanagan and Stan McKinney. Back row — Dr. Keith Spears, Jimmie Woosley, Alan Haven and Jeannie Clark. The luncheon was March 21, 2012 in the Banquet Hall.

 

McGuire received many awards throughout his life, but he received two CU Distinguished Service Awards, the latest of which was last year at the 8th annual Media Appreciation Luncheon, where he was honored among his radio and television friends.

He also received one in 1984 from the CU Alumni Association, and Flanagan, who served as director of alumni relations then, said, in presenting the award, that McGuire had given “beyond the call of loyalty to his alma mater.”

McGuire was affiliated with WTCO for more than 50 years where he delivered a weekly Sunday School lesson broadcast for around 30 years.

After he retired from KET in 1999, he and Dr. Frank Cheatham, senior vice president for academic affairs at CU, met in the parking lot at Taylor Regional Hospital. Cheatham convinced him to be a broadcast instructor at CU.

After he retired from KET in 1999, he and Dr. Frank Cheatham, senior vice president for academic affairs at CU, met in the parking lot at Taylor Regional Hospital. Cheatham convinced him to be a broadcast instructor at CU. He had already been working at WLCU and hosting the popular show “What's Cooking, Neighbor?”

“Ed McGuire has been a blessing to my life,” Cheatham said. “He was always encouraging and uplifting. All who knew him will miss his sense of humor coupled with his positive attitude.

“I have known Ed since his days of teaching physics at Taylor County High School. He always wanted the best for those he touched daily.”

John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president at CU, was one of the guests on his cooking show. He called him a “beloved television personality.”

Chowning said McGuire's work as an educator and his work in educational television earned the respect of colleagues around the state.

Paula Smith, right, was on Ed McGuire's show “What's Cooking, Neigh- bor?” (Campbellsville University Photo by Naranchuluu Amarsanaa)

Paula Smith, director of alumni relations at CU who attended church with McGuire, was one of his last guests on McGuire's cooking show.

“When I was asked to do a cooking show with Ed McGuire, I was so excited,” Smith said.

“I did several shows with him but the one that stands out in my mind is the day we made ‘Self Filled Cupcakes.' We were mixing, talking and laughing, and he was helping fill the cups and all of a sudden he said to me, ‘Paula, why are these called “Self Filled Cupcakes?' I looked directly at him and said, ‘Ed, because we are filling them ourselves.' He laughed like a little boy with excitement in his voice and he said, ‘Well, that makes a lot of sense.'”

McGuire earned his master of arts degree from Western Kentucky University in 1965 and his Rank I in 1967. He graduated from Boyd County High School in 1956.

McGuire was a licensed pilot and former member, and officer, with the Taylor County Air Board. He had served as president of the Taylor County Education Association and the Fourth District Association of School Administrators. He belonged to many other clubs and organizations including the Kentucky Association for Education Technology. His hobbies included ham radio and photography.

He and his wife, Wilma, who survives, have two children, Donna Berry and her husband, Michael, of Baton Rouge, La., and Lora Werner of Versailles, Ky., four grandchildren: Claire Berry Hebert and husband, Dustin, of Baton Rouge; Benjamin Thomas Werner and wife, Jessica, of Lafayette, La.; Anne Winston Berry and fiancé, Ross LeBlanc of New Orleans, La.; and Edward Terrell Werner of Greensboro, N.C.; one brother, David S. McGuire and wife, Melissa, of Newburg, Ind.; and several nieces and nephews and other relatives.

Visitation is tonight from 5 to 8 o'clock at Parrott & Ramsey Funeral Home with the funeral at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 16, also at the funeral home. Officiating at the funeral will be the Revs. Carlis Compton, Al Hardy and Ron Rafferty. Burial will be in Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,600 students offering 63 undergraduate options, 17 master's degrees, five postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.