Dear Members of the Colgate Community,
I share with you the news of the passing of William Edmonston, professor of psychology emeritus. Prof. Edmonston penned this obituary himself and filed it with the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty. We have filled in dates as appropriate and share it with you with the permission of the family.
May his memory be a blessing.
Lesleigh
William Edward Edmonston, Jr., formerly of Hamilton, NY, died on Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Cherry Hill, NJ, at the age of 93. Only child of Mr. & Mrs. William Edward Edmonston, Dr. Edmonston was born on November 20, 1931, in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1957, he married Nellie Jane Kerley in Birmingham, AL.
Dr. Edmonston received his high school diploma from Baltimore City College in 1948, where he was president of the Stage Craft Club, ran Varsity track, and was a member of the Honor Society. He received his BA in Psychology in 1952 from The Johns Hopkins University. While at Hopkins, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, the Freshman Football team, the Varsity Track team, the H Club and Scabbard & Blade, ROTC honorary society. He received his 2nd lieutenancy, infantry, through the ROTC program, upon graduation.
Dr. Edmonston spent the next two years (1952-1954) in active military service. When he graduated from the Infantry Company Officers' course, Ft. Benning, GA, he transferred to the Medical Service Corps and then graduated from the Medical Service Company Officers'® course at Brooke Army Medical Center, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. In 1953–54, Edmonston served in FECOM: (Korea, near Seoul, first as the Psychiatric Social Worker officer in the 212nd Psychiatric Unit, then as Commanding Officer of the Patients' Detachment, 123rd Medical Holding Company, and finally as TI&E Officer, 52nd Medical Battalion. While in Korea, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Upon discharge from active duty (1954), he remained in the inactive reserve (1954~1959), from which he was discharged with the rank of Captain.
Edmonston received his MA degree in Psychology in 1956 from the University of Alabama. He was a Teaching Assistant in the Department, 1955–1956. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 1960, where he interned at the Veteran's Administration Hospital, Lexington, KY; the Federal Narcotics Hospital, Lexington, KY; and the Veteran's Administration Hospital, Cincinnati, OH. He was an Instructor in the Department, 1959–1960. His Ph.D. dissertation, "An Experimental Investigation of Hypnotic Age Regression," was awarded the Bernard E. Gorton Award for meritorious scientific writing in hypnosis in 1961 by the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis.
From 1960 to 1964, Edmonston was Instructor/Assistant Professor in the Medical Psychology Section of the Department of Psychiatry in the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis). He was also the Director of the Psychology Clinic of the Washington University Clinics and Director of Clinical Training.
In 1964, he joined the Psychology Department at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, where he taught until his retirement in 1993. While at Colgate, he served two terms as the Chairman of the Department (1971–1975; 1978–1981). During his 1970–71 sabbatical, Edmonston was a Senior Fellow in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA. Upon his return, he initiated the Neuroscience Program at Colgate University in 1972, one of the first undergraduate programs in the U.S. at that time. He headed and guided the program until his retirement.
A member of Sigma Xi (international scientific research honor society) since 1960, Edmonston received a number of professional and academic honors. In 1982 he was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany and Gästprofessor at Universität Erlangen Nürnberg. In 1988, he was named CASE New York State Professor of the Year and National CASE Professor of the Year Gold Medalist. He was a Fellow in the following scientific societies: American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Psychological Association (President, Division of Psychological Hypnosis, 1974–75); American Psychopathological Association; American Psychological Society; American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (President, 1974); and the International Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. His biography appears in annual editions of Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, and Who's Who in Science & Engineering.
For eight years, Edmonston was the Editor of the American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis and an Advisory Editor of Experimentelle und klinische Hypnose. Professionally, he published over 55 articles in various professional journals, including Science; numerous book chapters; and two books: Hypnosis & Relaxation (1981) and The Induction of Hypnosis (1986). He also edited Conceptual and Investigative Approaches to Hypnosis and Hypnotic Phenomena for the New York Academy of Sciences in 1977. In 1989, Edmonston, with his wife, Nellie K. Edmonston, established The William E. and Nellie K. Edmonston Neuroscience Award (Fund number: 206018) at Colgate University, which is awarded annually to the senior neuroscience major(s) who, in the course of pursuing the major, demonstrate(s) academic excellence, a noteworthy dedication to the field of neuroscience, and an outstanding quality of intellectual curiosity.*
That same year, Edmonston and his wife started Edmonston Publishing, Inc., a publishing house specializing in books on the American Civil War based on primary source materials (letters, journals, etc.) and dealing in antiquarian books on the Civil War. In addition, Edmonston Publishing published a biography of Franz Anton Mesmer, Mesmer and Animal Magnetism, Unfurl the Flags: Remembrances of the American Civil War (edited by Edmonston), and The Strange Case of Mr. Nobody, a mystery by Edmonston (under the nom de plume Owen Magruder). He also penned two additional mystery novels as Owen Magruder: The Case of the Hidden Dentures in 2007 and The Detective Who Couldn't Quit in 2011. In 2012, he co-authored, with his wife, Nellie K. Edmonston, The Story of George Gavin Ritchie, Abolitionist, following their successful nomination of Ritchie to the National Abolition Hall of Fame in 2011. From 2013–2018, Edmonston continued to author murder mysteries in short story form under the name Owen Magruder through Cozy Cat Press, including: The Feud at Glencoe: And Other Adventures: A John and Mary Braemhor Mystery in 2013, Death at Beggar’s Knob: And Other Adventures in 2015, Chapter 21 in Chasing the CODEX: A Mystery by 24 Authors in 2015, The Lost Pipers of CraigDhuin: And Other Adventures in 2016, and “The Man In Tan” found in Cozy Cat Shorts: Twenty-five short stories from the authors at Cozy Cat Press in 2017, and Chapter 10 in Wheel of Death: A Mystery by 22 Authors in 2018.
Through the Hamilton, NY years (1964–2022), Edmonston was an active community member, serving as Chairman of the Hamilton Historical Commission for nine years, Chairman of the Publications Commission for the Hamilton Village Bicentennial Commission (1992–1996), and as a Founding Director of the Madison County Council on Alcohol & Substance Abuse. He also served the community as a New York State Emergency Medical Technician and driver for the Southern Madison County Volunteer Ambulance Corps. These same years, he was active in Hamilton Music Theatre, co-founded the Paynes Corners Players, which performed staged readings of “Spoon River Anthology” and “Our Town” with Hamilton community actors and his daughter, Rebecca Jane Edmonston, on guitar. He was also a performing member of the B Sharp Musical Club of Utica, NY.
Edmonston dabbled in painting for many years before pursuing it seriously in 1999. He was primarily self-taught, with one basic painting course and two studio courses at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY. A prolific artist, between 1999 and 2022, he completed hundreds of paintings. His works covered a variety of styles and genres, from city and landscape scenes, portraits, to trompe-l’œil. Most of his work was oil on canvas, though he also worked in acrylic, graphite, pen and ink, and colored pencil. He preferred contemporary realism, using smoothly blended and impasto techniques.
Edmonston’s paintings were publicly displayed in Hamilton, NY, at the MAD Artist Gallery, Oneida Savings Bank, and Hamilton Library. His works were included in juried regional shows in Little Falls, Norwich, Clinton, Old Forge, Rome, Utica and Cooperstown, NY; juried national shows in Cooperstown, NY; and are in private collections in Philadelphia; Haddonfield, NJ; Las Vegas; New York City; Virginia Beach; Munich, Germany; and the Central New York area. As a member of the Blind Artists Society, Edmonston’s paintings were shown in their annual shows (Albany, 2009; Troy, 2010; Cooperstown, 2011). By 2010, Edmonston established an art gallery dedicated to his works in his Hamilton home called “The Little Gallery.”
Dr. Edmonston was predeceased by his parents and was survived by his loving wife of 67+ years, Nellie K. Edmonston (for only days); two daughters, Kathryn Nell Edmonston of Virginia Beach, VA and Rebecca Jane Edmonston of New York City; one son, Owen William Edmonston, and daughter-in-law, Tina Bocker Edmonston, and two grandchildren, Philip Owen Edmonston and Lisa Anne Edmonston, all of Haddonfield, NJ.
Interment will be in the Colgate University cemetery at the convenience of the family.
*Please consider making memorial donations in William E. Edmonston Jr.'s name to The William E. and Nellie K. Edmonston Neuroscience Award (Fund number: 206018)
Online: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/48752/donations/new?a=8379314
By Phone: 800-668-0313
By Mail (with the name of the fund listed on the memo line of the check):
Colgate University
P.O. Box 313
Canajoharie, NY 13317-0313