This photo from a magazine article shows four generations of Easleys. Carol is on the left, top.
The NCA was saddened to learn of the passing of Carol Easley, who helped run long-time NCA member Easley's Fun Shop in Phoenix, Arizona.
"Carol Easley was the most amazing person," says Dwayne Ibsen, an NCA board member and owner of Ibsen Costume in Omaha, Nebraska. "Her organizational skills, friendliness and talent for salesmanship and fairness will not soon be equaled. Her shop was a joy to visit. Well put together, attractive and complete, I looked forward to my visits. She was truly an icon of the National Costumers Association. She will be missed."
Easley ran the costume shop together with her husband, Herb, and their daughter, Debbie. It had been founded by Herb's father Bert in 1947. The Easleys hosted the 1995 NCA Convention in Phoenix, and Herb was president of the NCA from 1997 to 1999. In 2001 Easley's Fun Shop was given the Harry Palmer Award, which honors a member business that overcomes adversity; Easley's had been severely damaged in a fire.
Easley's Fun shop closed in 2018 after almost 72 years in business. Four years later a historical marker was placed at the location of their shop (click here to read an NCA article about that event, which also gives some history of the business).