Journalism icon known for his stories

ALBANY — Ed Lightsey was all about stories — not just the hundreds of stories he covered as a reporter, and as a freelance writer, but the tales of his own life, the ones he told to entertain his friends. On Thursday, at the age of 69, Lightsey found the end of his earthly chapter.

Lightsey died after suffering a stroke, according to friends of the widely known journalist.

Reggie Hartin, 77, a retired Albany real estate broker, met Lightsey more than 35 years ago, he said, when the two of them were auctioneers. They traveled and played golf together and from time to time were known to tip a beer or two, Hartin said. He remembers Lightsey’s outgoing personality, his humor, and his skill at “Trivial Pursuit.”

“I made the mistake of playing that with Ed,” Hartin said. “I found out I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was.”

Mostly, though, Hartin remembers the stories.

“If you got him in the right mood he could tell some stories,” Hartin said. “They’d go sometimes for hours on end — stories you never heard before. He was an interesting and entertaining fellow, and I surely will miss him.”

Dawn Hobby, a news executive with WALB-TV, said she started her career at the local station just after Lightsey left his role as an anchorman and reporter there.

“Ed was the consummate professional, but he balanced it with a great sense of humor and passion and enjoyment for his job. He truly loved his job (as a journalist),” said Hobby.

“He was a great story teller. That’s what set him apart and made him such a success….and touched people’s hearts. He had lots of connections and lots of friends. Ed was blessed with tremendous common sense and communicative skills. You could spend an afternoon with Ed and he’d delight you with stories.”

For the past 22 years, Lightsey served as senior correspondent for “Georgia Trend” magazine.

“Ed was a tremendous asset to “Georgia Trend” magazine,” said Neely Young, publisher of the statewide monthly business publication.

“He knew everybody in the state, and everybody loved him. Whereever I go, I mention his name and get a smile from the face of that person. He was a wonderful writer who won a lot of awards for “Georgia Trend.” He was just a joy to work with and always had a great story to tell.”

In addition to his frequent contributions to the magazine, Young said he considered Lightsey his “south Georgia publisher.”

“He would give speeches for me at events in that portion of the state if I had something else going on….He was a wonderful friend of Georgia.”

After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Lightsey headed for Valdosta, where he had family members. There, he attended Valdosta State College before coming to the television job in Albany.

At WALB, Lightsey cut his reporting teeth on stories like the Alday murders in Donalsonville and the Dawson Five murders in Terrell County. He also covered the 1976 presidential campaign won by Jimmy Carter of nearby Plains. Through his good friend Spencer Lee, who was well acquainted with Carter’s chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan, Lightsey was able to gain access to the Carter White House and shoot a documentary on Georgians at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Lightsey left the TV business and became a speech writer and assistant for Georgia Speaker of the House Tom Murphy.

When Lightsey exited politics, he decided to try his hand at auctioneering. That’s where he met his pals and fellow auctioneers, Reggie Hartin and Billy Kimbrel of Colquitt.

“No matter what the circumstances were, Ed could find some humor in it,” Kimbrel said. “He loved to find the humor in it. He laughed every chance he got. He was a kind-hearted man, as well, with a special feeling for the downtrodden.”

Kimbrel talked about Lightsey’s passion for helping other people and in particular the way he used his many connections to secure a “gig” for the famous Colquitt play, Swamp Gravy, at the Seven Stages Theater in Atlanta in 1995.

“The show was sold out,” Kimbrel said. “Even Gov. Zell Miller attended.”

In 1990, Lightsey decided to have a go at writing, and gained success at creating various freelance jobs for venues including travel magazines, real estate and art publications. He wrote speeches for politicians and ghost-wrote articles for executive trade journals.

Around 30 decades ago, Lightsey met Marilyn Nobles, the woman he described to friends as someone “he’d already been in love with.”

“I tell my friends that I was in love with Marilyn before I met her,” Lightsey said in a 2009 interview with The Herald. “I had this ideal woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and Marilyn turned out to be that woman.”

Albany business man and Dougherty County Commissioner Jeff Sinyard said he had been speaking to Lightsey just two weeks before Lightsey’s death.

“I was shocked and surprised to hear the news,” Sinyard said. “Ed was not only a journalist, but he was very involved with the community and making things happen. No matter what the conversation happened to be, Ed knew something about it. He had the greatest laugh and the greatest smile and he always had a story to tell.”

Danny Carter contributed to this story.