Rev. Edward L. Eastman III

Rev. Edward Lee Eastman III (Ned) passed away peacefully on December 3, 2022, at his home in Oneonta, NY. He was born on August 15,1929 to Edward L. Eastman Jr. and Alice Dodge Eastman in Elmira, New York.

Ned attended Wesleyan University in CT where he earned a BA in philosophy in 1951. He then received an MDiv at the Union Theological Seminary in NYC in 1954.

Ned married Jane Elizabeth Gruver on January 28, 1956, at the First United Methodist Church in Oneonta. Together they served many churches in both NY and CT including Bridgeport, Norwalk, Watertown, and Fairfield, CT and Dobbs Ferry, Pawling, and Farmingdale, NY. Ned served for six years as the superintendent of the Hudson West District in Newburgh, NY. Ned and Jane retired in 1992 in Oneonta where Ned has lived independently since Jane’s passing in 2002.

During his years in Oneonta, Ned has been an active member of First United Methodist Church singing in the choir and serving on the board of trustees. Ned briefly taught a CCAL course on Henry W. Longfellow as historian and organized the annual Oneonta Concert Association series. He and Jane enjoyed traveling with Elderhostel exploring many different countries. For years Ned, along with close friends Robert Dilts and Mildred Parish, attended the operas at the Glimmerglass in Cooperstown. Each summer, Ned spent several weeks on Squam Lake, visiting with family and exploring the mountains and lakes of New Hampshire. Ned spent countless hours researching his genealogy. He has documented all this work with many details and stories throughout each of the eight generations all the way back to the 1600s in Longford, England.

Ned is survived by his three loving children: Daniel Eastman and his wife Sheri (Onque) of Kingwood, TX, Rebecca Eastman Hadik and her husband Andrew of Chester, NH, and Jeremy Eastman and his wife Connie (Lucas) of Naugatuck, CT. His four grandchildren: Nicole Eastman Scambray and her husband Daniel of Kingwood, TX, Jesse Eastman and his wife Jenna (McCoy) of Houston, TX, James Hadik and Alice Hadik of Chester, NH. Ned has four great grandchildren Jackson and Lucas Scambray and Charlotte and Henry Eastman.

A service celebrating the life of Ned Eastman will be held on December 17, 2022, at 5:00pm at the First United Methodist Church at 66 Chestnut Street, Oneonta. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to FUMC in memory of Ned.

To send the family an online condolence please visit www.bookhoutfuneralhome.com

Arrangements are by the Bookhout Funeral Home of Oneonta.