Edgar Wilson Nye

Biography

Edgar Wilson Nye, born in 1850, tapped into the frontier spirit as a writer whose wit, signed simply as “Bill Nye,” brought warmth and amusement to readers across the nation. From the newsrooms of the upper Midwest to the stages of lecture halls, he chronicled the ironies of everyday life and celebrated the quirks of the human condition with a kindly wink.

He traveled widely yet always returned to the calm of his faith in people, finding in observation the raw materials for gentle jokes and homespun wisdom. He rests at Calvary Episcopal Church Cemetery, remembered as a humorist whose laughter never mocked but always reminded others to look kindly on one another.