Dr. Herman Easom

WILSON - Herman Franklin Easom, MD, 103, died Friday, December 16, 2005, at Wilson Medical Center. A native of Selma, he was a son of the late James P. and Lillie Owens Easom. He was preceded in death by his wife, Kathryn Scroggs Easom in 1997 and sisters, Alma Easom and Lillie Rose. Dr. Easom graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1925 and received his medical degree from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, in 1927. His career is legendary in the state public health system. He created the state's Department of Occupational Health in the thirties and continued to work in various capacities until 2002 - over 70 years. His last endeavor was reading X-rays making him the longest continuously serving public health employee in the history of the state. The U.S. Public Health Service published some of his research papers in the field of X-ray. Many of his papers eventually became the basis of national health policies followed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention with the National Institute of Health. His work with the state began in 1929 at NC Sanatorium in McCain where he served as a clinic physician until 1942. There was a four-year break in which he was the director of the Division of Industrial Hygiene for the State Board of Health. In 1942 he moved to Wilson to supervise the building and operation of the new Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium. He served as the Associate Director & Medical Director until 1975. In his field, he served on the Medical Committee for the NC Dusty Trades which he founded in 1935 and chaired until 2000. He is a past president of the Wilson County Medical Society, Fourth District Medical Society, the NC Thoracic Society and the NC Lung Association. He was a member of the National Tuberculosis Association and a Fellow in the American College of Physicians. In Wilson, in addition to the medical society, he served as chair of the Board of Deacons of First Baptist Church, Salvation Army advisory board and was a past president of the Wilson Kiwanis Club. He received the Book of Golden Deeds Award from the Wilson Civitan Club. He received the state's highest honor - the Order of the Longleaf Pine - in 1998. The Funeral will be held on Monday, 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church. A time of sharing will follow and then burial in Maplewood Cemetery beside Mrs. Easom. Surviving is a nephew, Thomas F. Rose