Edward J. Pease

Born in 1930, Dr. Edward J. Pease earned his B.S. degree from Western Illinois University in 1952, his M.M. Ed. Degree from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1955, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in 1960. He was a professor at Taylor University and Iowa Wesleyan College before finding his home on the Hill in 1964. Dr. Pease then taught Horn and Music History at Western Kentucky University until his passing in 1986.

Dr. Pease was a man of many abilities; not only did he sit as principal horn in the Owensboro Symphony, perform with the Western Kentucky Symphony, the Bowling Green Western Symphony Orchestra, and the University Brass Quintet, but he was also known as an authority on the history of dance as well as the author of many scholarly articles, poems, and books. Moreover, Dr. Pease was an active member of the WKU community, highly involved with student recruitment and teacher education through horn clinics, lectures, and workshops and serving as a member on numerous university committees.

His extensive scholarly activities earned him recognition in Who’s Who in American Music for 1983. But most notably, Dr. Pease was recognized by his students and colleagues as a teacher of exceptional excellence and great personal warmth. According to all who knew him, he was the highest exemplar of musicianship, scholarship, and friendship. True to that description and as a testament to his skills as a musician, Dr. Pease was posthumously inducted into the WKU Music Wall of Fame in 1997.

Upon his passing in 1986, to honor the legacy of this talented and dedicated man, his wife Mrs. Betty K. Pease, other family, colleagues, and friends established the Edward J. Pease Memorial Music Scholarship Fund. Through this fund, Dr. Pease’s memory lives on as deserving sophomore, junior, and senior Music majors are helped in perpetuity.