Eva Dean Boian Edwards
Eva Dean Boian Edwards is honored as a longtime Estill County educator and historical trailblazer.
Eva Dean Boian Edwards was born May 1, 1922 in Estill County, Kentucky to Thomas Gentry Boian and Myrtle Parke Boian in log house that her great grandfather, William Boian,Sr. built in 1822. The old homestead of William Sr. where Eva Dean spent her life is located in the Thomas Community of Estill County. Here she grew up happy and secure in the love of her parent s and grandparents. Summer days were filled with visits form aunts and uncles and cousins who returned to visit the family. Evenings were spent around the stone fireplace in the front room listening to the “old folks” tell about Grandpa William’s journey from Virginia to Estill County. They told how the house was built and about the tan yard that her great grandfather had operated and the record books that were stored in his old desk “up the back stairs.” Mentally, Eva Dean took notes which she would use many years later as she wrote the six hundred pages of the Boian Family History.
In her teen years she became a member of the Thomas Baptist Church where she was an active member throughout her life, serving as a Sunday School teacher, pianist, Vacation Bible School teacher and other needed tasks. She was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky State College and in 1942 began her teaching career in the little two-room school in her community of Thomas. She walked the mile from her home to the school along with the children who came from her end of the road. Rain, snow, sleet and mud, cold and hot, nothing was an excuse for not being there. Her first month’s pay was $72.72. Eva Dean spent thirty three years working in the Estill County School system. During those years she served as teacher, supervisor of teachers and guidance counselor, as well as a wife and mother.
The time came when Eva Dean retired from the school system. She had more time to spend with her husband Erman and their family and her church, but there was more she wanted to accomplish in the years ahead and one day the opportunity came. Acting upon a suggestion from Estill County librarian Kate Black, Eva Dean and Sandra Rose organized the Estill County Historical and Genealogical Society in 1981. The society is active and growing today and rated one of the best on Kentucky.
Next she and Sandra co-authored many books of Estill County records, the first of these being the Marriage Records of Estill County, 1808-1900. These records were complied in five published volumes.
Then came the Estill County Census, 1810-1850 and many family, church and various other histories. The last of Eva Deans and Sandra’s work was Obituaries of Central and Eastern Kentucky in several volumes. During the last weeks of her life Eva Dean worked furiously in a race with death to compose in detail her work within the Estill County School System. The title for this book was to be I Wore Different Hats but death won the race and Eva Dean left this work with the work unfinished.
Eva Dean died at the old Boian homestead on Friday, July 9, 1999. On a hill behind the house is the old Boian cemetery. Eva Dean is buried there along with her Boian ancestors. Yet, Eva Dean Boian Edwards lives on today in the memory of those who knew and loved her as a teacher, counselor, friend, comforter, Christian and a recorder of Estill County, Kentucky history.
Eva Dean Boian Edwards was born May 1, 1922 in Estill County, Kentucky to Thomas Gentry Boian and Myrtle Parke Boian in log house that her great grandfather, William Boian,Sr. built in 1822. The old homestead of William Sr. where Eva Dean spent her life is located in the Thomas Community of Estill County. Here she grew up happy and secure in the love of her parent s and grandparents. Summer days were filled with visits form aunts and uncles and cousins who returned to visit the family. Evenings were spent around the stone fireplace in the front room listening to the “old folks” tell about Grandpa William’s journey from Virginia to Estill County. They told how the house was built and about the tan yard that her great grandfather had operated and the record books that were stored in his old desk “up the back stairs.” Mentally, Eva Dean took notes which she would use many years later as she wrote the six hundred pages of the Boian Family History.
In her teen years she became a member of the Thomas Baptist Church where she was an active member throughout her life, serving as a Sunday School teacher, pianist, Vacation Bible School teacher and other needed tasks. She was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky State College and in 1942 began her teaching career in the little two-room school in her community of Thomas. She walked the mile from her home to the school along with the children who came from her end of the road. Rain, snow, sleet and mud, cold and hot, nothing was an excuse for not being there. Her first month’s pay was $72.72. Eva Dean spent thirty three years working in the Estill County School system. During those years she served as teacher, supervisor of teachers and guidance counselor, as well as a wife and mother.
The time came when Eva Dean retired from the school system. She had more time to spend with her husband Erman and their family and her church, but there was more she wanted to accomplish in the years ahead and one day the opportunity came. Acting upon a suggestion from Estill County librarian Kate Black, Eva Dean and Sandra Rose organized the Estill County Historical and Genealogical Society in 1981. The society is active and growing today and rated one of the best on Kentucky.
Next she and Sandra co-authored many books of Estill County records, the first of these being the Marriage Records of Estill County, 1808-1900. These records were complied in five published volumes.
Then came the Estill County Census, 1810-1850 and many family, church and various other histories. The last of Eva Deans and Sandra’s work was Obituaries of Central and Eastern Kentucky in several volumes. During the last weeks of her life Eva Dean worked furiously in a race with death to compose in detail her work within the Estill County School System. The title for this book was to be I Wore Different Hats but death won the race and Eva Dean left this work with the work unfinished.
Eva Dean died at the old Boian homestead on Friday, July 9, 1999. On a hill behind the house is the old Boian cemetery. Eva Dean is buried there along with her Boian ancestors. Yet, Eva Dean Boian Edwards lives on today in the memory of those who knew and loved her as a teacher, counselor, friend, comforter, Christian and a recorder of Estill County, Kentucky history.