 All
of us knew Perry Ashley, yet I doubt that any two
of us knew him in exactly the same way. Lita probably
knew him the best. She knew him as Perry the husband. His
children, grandchildren and great grandchild knew him as
Perry the father, grandfather and great- grandfather. A lot
of us knew him as Perry the professor. Some of us were
privileged to know him as Perry the friend and mentor.
There are many things about him that we all know in
common. I think we all knew Perry to be a man of honor, a
man of wisdom, a man of his word, a man who cared about
others, a man of dedication and determination.
There are some things about him that I expect many of
his friends didn’t know, but they help us understand
the
whole man. For instance, not too many of us knew that he
made beautiful, perfectly-to-scale doll houses for the
women in his family. Or that he was elected to and served
as chairman of both the East Richland Public Service
Commission and the Richland District 2 School Board.
I can’t speak of him as a family man because my time
with Perry over almost 40 years was mostly during working
hours. I’ll let his family tell you about that Perry
Ashley. I
can tell you, however, that when Perry spoke of his wife,
his sons, his daughters-in-law, his grandchildren and,
recently, his great-grandson, as he frequently did, there was
an inner glow to him — a warmth — that told
even the
most nonobservant of us that here was a man who deeply
loved his family and was supremely proud of all of them.
Perry touched the lives of thousands of students during
the decades he was a faculty member in the journalism
program. He taught about the history of journalism, and it
was a course that everybody, regardless of their sequence,
had to take. His students invariably remember him as a man
who cared about them. One of them told me that she often
went to him with questions, and he never once treated her
questions as trivial or irrelevant or a waste of his time,
as
often happened in other departments. She said that when he
lectured, he always worked hard to make the past of
journalism relevant to its present, and when he did so, his
love of his subject was evident to everybody.
Another student remembers that Perry, along with
Reid Montgomery, instilled in him a fierce commitment to
the First Amendment. This student went on to become a
well-known and highly respected lawyer and advocate of a
free and unfettered press. When this student bought his first
house in his senior year, Perry gave him a lawn mower and
told him he’d need it. The former student says, “I
always
liked Perry, but I have never learned to like mowing grass.”
A journalism faculty colleague remembers that Perry
was especially nice to him when he first came to USC and
then he found that Perry was especially nice to just about
everyone. This colleague also said, “I never heard
him
bully a student or a staff member or, in fact, ever behave
as
anything less than a complete gentleman.” He also
remembers asking a staff member, several years after Perry
retired, whether she ever saw him. The staff member
responded: “I saw Dr. Ashley just last night. He and
Mrs.
Ashley were coming out of a store at the mall. They were
holding hands.”
Another former colleague says that when he joined the
faculty in the mid-1980s, his family stayed behind for some
months. Perry invited him to accompany him to Tuscaloosa
for a conference so that he could visit his wife and two
children. On the way down, Perry shared with him many
insights on how to succeed as a young assistant professor.
For me, Perry was a strong friend, a trusted advisor, a
patient mentor. People who know me know that I would
often come up with ideas about how to do this or that or
how to perhaps solve a problem. They’ll also remember
that I often was highly enthusiastic about my own idea —
some might say “hardheaded” is more accurate.
I cannot number the times I went to Perry with one of
these “hot” ideas, only to have him lean back
in his chair
and say: “Well now, let’s think about this.” He
would then
list at least a dozen reasons why I might want to reconsider.
Most of the time, I followed his sage advice. When I didn’t,
I usually came to regret it.
Perry was one of the most unflappable people I’ve
ever known. He was also the kind of person who was very
sure of his own self-image — the kind of person who
would tell funny stories about themselves. He told me once
that he had gone to Room 3001 in the Coliseum, which we
used to call the “bowling alley,” to do his
history lecture.
He called the roll and began to lecture. Eventually, he came
to a place where he wanted to write something on the
blackboard. He remembered that the screen had been down
over the board when he walked in and, without pausing in
his lecture, reached behind him and raised the screen. The
students collapsed into laughter. When he turned to see
what
was so amusing, he discovered that someone had left a very
detailed scatological drawing on the board.
I asked him: “Perry! What on earth did you do?” The
unflappable Dr. Ashley said, “I just kept on lecturing
while
I erased it.”
All of us will miss Perry, but we’ll never
forget him. He’ll always be in the minds and hearts
of those
of us who were privileged to know him. |
 |
Obituary
Reprinted from The State
A memorial service for Perry Jonathan Ashley was held
Friday, July 11, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel of the
Holy Spirit at Still Hopes Episcopal Retirement Community.
Memorial gifts may be given to Still Hopes, Residents’ Assistance
Fund, One Still Hopes Drive, West Columbia, SC 29169, or
to the American
Cancer Society, 128 Stonemark Lane, Columbia, SC 29210.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the
family.
Dr. Ashley died Monday, July 7, 2008, from lung cancer.
Dr. Ashley (PhD., Southern Illinois University B.A., M.A.,
University of Kentucky) was Distinguished Professor Emeritus
of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, in the School
of Journalism and Mass Communications.
He was a dedicated
teacher and a scholar of the history of American journalism,
and edited the five volumes of the Dictionary of Literary
Biography which detail the history of print journalism in
the United States.
Dr. Ashley was a member of many professional and honorary
societies, including Omicron Delta Kappa, the Society of
Professional Journalists, and the Association for Education
in Journalism and Mass Communications.
He was listed in Who’s
Who in America, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest,
Who’s Who in Media and Communications, and Who’s
Who in the World.
Dr. Ashley was active in civic organizations,
including Chairman of Richland County School District 2 Board
of Trustees and Chairman of the East Richland Public Service
District during its time of expansion in northeastern Richland
County.
He served in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1950 -
1952.
Dr. Ashley was the son of the late Terrell G. and Ola Whitmer
Ashley.
He is survived by his wife, Lita C. Ashley of West Columbia;
his sons, Jonathan (Jan) and Richard (Allison); his grandchildren,
David, Joanna, Christopher, Rachel, and Anna; his great-grandson,
Noah; his sisters, Eunice Pence and Hulah Snow; and his brother,
Carl Ashley.
Perry Ashley -
by Dr. Ron Farrar
Reprinted from The
Geezer Chronicles>
Respected scholar and recognized authority on journalism
history who was chief editor for the Dictionary of Literary
Biography's series of volumes on American newspaper journalists.
Served for years as associate dean of the College and as
interim dean for more than a year. He knew details of the
College's budget better than anybody, but refused – despite
the nosy efforts of many of us – to gossip. Indeed,
he was a model of propriety, decorum and professional integrity
to a generation of his colleagues.
|
