Easley - Walter
Source: Crawfordsville Journal Review Crawfordsville, Montgomery Co, Indiana Feb 20, 1959
Waynetown - Funeral services for Walter F. Easley, 79, were conducted Tuesday morning at Greensburg. He was a native of Waynetown and grew to manhood here. He was a former president of two Indiana Theater Owners' Assns., and was a Greensburg civic leader. In 1927 Mr. Easley and five associates organized the Associated Theaters of Indiana which he served as president. He later was president of a successor organization, the Allied Theater Owners of Indiana. He also was a founder and director of the Affiliated Theater Owners of Indiana. He was president of the Greensburg Chamber of Commerce in 1929 and on its board of directors for about 25 years. Mr. Easley was past ruler of the Elks Lodge there, a district deputy grand exalted ruler and past treasurer and trustee of the Indiana State Elks Assn. He was a trustee of the Presbyterian Church. Survivors include the widow, Mrs. Mildred Emmert Easley, and two sons, Wilbur of Indianapolis and Max of Greensburg.
Thanks so very, very much to Sue P. for this
Source: Rushville Indiana Republican Sat 14 Feb 1959 p 1
Walter F. Easley, 79, a former Rushville resident and widely known theatre operator, died at 5:45 p.m. Friday a short time after being admitted to the Decatur County Hospital, following a heart attack suffered at his home in Greensburg. Mr. Easley was born at Waynetown May 23, 1879 and he spent his early life in Elwood, coming to Rushville in 1913 where he was employed as a machine operator in a movie theatre. He later acquired the Princess Theatre, a small movie located near Main and Third Street. He later expanded his business to the present location of the Princess in the Masonic Temple. The deceased was a member of the paid fire department in Elwood, when he moved here. Soon after taking up residence here, he was appointed Fire Chief, which position he held for several years when the chief’s job was not on a full-time basis. He sold his interests in the theatre business here in 1924 and acquired the K-P Theater in Greensburg which he operated for 25 years. He built the Tree City Theater in Greenburg in 1939 and was active in the operation of that theatre until his death. Mr. Easley had served as president and on the board of the Directors for the Motion Picture Industry in Indiana and was regarded as the oldest theatre operator for consecutive years in Indiana and probably the United States. He was active in civil affairs in Greensburg, having served on the city council, the waterworks board, a director for 25 years of the Chamber of Commerce, past president, a member of the Rotary Club, K of P Lodge and trustee of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Easley became a member of the Elks Lodge in 1905 while living in Elwood and when the Rushville Lodge was instituted in 1913, he became a charter member and transferred to Greensburg when he moved there. In addition to having been an exalted ruler of the Greensburg Elks, Mr. Easley had served as a direct deputy for the Grand Exalted Ruler, a past trustee and treasurer of the State Elks Association. His first wife died in 1941 and in 1943 he was married to Mildred Emmert who survives, with two children by his first marriage, Wilbur of Indianapolis and Max at Greensburg. He is survived also by several grandchildren and cousins. Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Gilliland-Howe Funeral Home with Rev. Hugh Schuster, officiating and burial will follow in South Park Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home after 10:30 Sunday morning.
