Remembering Ed Tinsley
Ed Tinsley at Point of Honor during Day at The Point, October 7, 2017
“Let Me Tell You a Little Story”
The Lynchburg Museum System lost its longtime volunteer and former board member Ed Tinsley on June 26, 2025. Ed was a regular fixture at the museum on Court Street, faithfully volunteering to meet and greet visitors almost every Sunday afternoon for more than a decade.
Ed loved people, and he could instantly connect with any visitor, staff member, or volunteer while on duty. He loved to tell jokes—sometimes quite colorful—and share stories from his vast life experience of nearly 90 years. He joked that the title of his autobiography would be “Let Me Tell You a Little Story…”
Ed served on the museum’s advisory board from 2011 to 2020, including several years as vice chairman. Board and staff always appreciated his wisdom, common sense, and good judgment.
Thank you, Ed. We will miss you.
Memories of Ed
By Doug Harvey, Lynchburg Museum Director, 2005–2017
Not long after I had started at the Lynchburg Museum, Office Manager Ann Scalf came in beaming and said, “I just recruited Ed Tinsley as a volunteer!” I had no idea then what a gift was coming our way. Ed quickly became essential. He built props for exhibits, worked the front desk delighting visitors, served on the Museum Foundation board, wore his top hat and frock coat as Dr. Cabell at Point of Honor, and so much more I can’t list it all.
Ed Tinsley skillfully rang the museum’s bell by hand on several occasions. This photo was taken on November 11, 2018, on the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I.
One of my favorite Ed Tinsley stories is when we needed someone to ring the bell atop the Old Court House as part of a nationwide 150th year commemoration of the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox in 1865. During its historic usage, the bell was rung by someone pulling ropes a floor or two below the bell, and later an electric clapper did the work. In typical Ed fashion, he agreed to ring ours and came in beforehand to plan his attack.
What Ed learned (and taught the rest of us) was that when you ring the bell by hand next to it, the sound almost blows you off the cupola. When the actual event took place, Ed was in perfect position wearing a pair of shooting range ear protectors.
Sundays Will Never Be the Same
By Noelle Beverly, Museum Experience Leader, 2022–present
For many years, Ed Tinsley volunteered on Sunday afternoons, helping part-time staff welcome visitors to the Lynchburg Museum. He showed up for us, without fail, even that last Sunday just a few days before he passed on. As we all absorbed the shock of losing him, my colleagues, one by one, expressed the thought echoing through my own mind: I thought Ed would be with us forever.
Ed was an ideal addition to our Sunday crew. He greeted everyone warmly. “Welcome, welcome,” he’d bellow every time someone came through the door. No one was a stranger. If he didn’t know them already, he considered every visitor a potential friend. For the staff, he collected jokes to share. He loved to make us laugh and traveled with a store of corny puns, provocative one-liners, and anecdotes, so if things got quiet we’d always be entertained.
Best of all, Ed carried a trove of stories with him. Many of them were hilarious. A walking, talking archive of Lynchburg history, Ed gave us a vivid version of local events that dovetailed merrily with the distinguished city I knew. I’ll never pass the Texas Inn or cross the John Lynch Bridge without smiling and thinking of him.
In many of Ed’s stories, a common theme emerged: help others in whatever way you can. Always with genuine and deep humility, Ed shared moments when he had made a difference in someone’s life–sometimes with a life-changing solution, sometimes with a smile or a kind word. These stories might date back to decades before or the previous week. Past to present, he shaped his life so that he could help others and bring joy to those around him at every opportunity.
Sharp and wise and funny and kind, Ed was a good friend to us to the very end. We are so grateful for every moment with him.