A. LeRoy Lightner Jr., a creator of Ernest P. Worrell, 'NoWhutImean?'
Mr. Lightner was by turns sweet and funny. "He loved to pun and hear us groan," said his daughter.
A. LeRoy Lightner Jr., 96, formerly of West Chester, a longtime advertising executive whose wellspring of goofy humor led to the creation of Ernest P. Worrell, the imaginary rube who went from being a character in TV commercials to a big-screen success, died Monday, May 8, of respiratory failure at a hospice in Durham, N.C.
He had been in failing health, his family said.
For 34 years while living in Chester County, Mr. Lightner was a vice president at N.W. Ayer, an ad agency with offices in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. He managed the Goodyear, Texaco, Chrysler-Plymouth, and Regal Shoe accounts, and introduced Teflon and Silverstone cookware and Lucite paints as part of his work on the Du Pont account in the early 1960s.
In 1980, he left Ayer to become national director of the United Methodist Television Presence and Ministry Campaign in Nashville.
But he really hit his stride from 1982 to 2001, when as senior vice president of marketing with the Nashville ad agency of Carden & Cherry Inc. he helped create and promote the wildly popular TV commercials involving two neighbors, Ernest and Vern. Mr. Lightner worked on the project with Carden executive John Cherry.
Wearing a baseball cap and denim vest, Ernest is a rube who bores his neighbor, Vern, with inane patter until finally mentioning the sponsor's product and signing off with, "NoWhutImean?" The neighbor is always off-camera, but Ernest's loser demeanor tells the viewer that the contact is an eye-roller.
The goofball character, played by Jim Varney, was so popular that TV viewers called in asking when the commercials would air. The character took on a life of its own, spawning a TV series, Hey Vern, It's Ernest!; numerous videos; and a series of movies after Walt Disney Co. executive Michael Eisner picked up on the craze.
Daughter Karen Jeanne Lightner said her father was by turns sweet and funny. He loved puns and "to hear us groan."
While helping to craft his life story, he told his family: "It's not everybody that gets to edit their own obit. NoWhutImean?"
Born in Wyomissing, near Reading, Berks County, he was the son of A. LeRoy and Grace Thompson Lightner.
He graduated in 1942 with a degree in government from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster. While there he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, Pi Gamma, Blue Key, and Druid fraternities, and the John Marshall Society. He stayed active in Franklin and Marshall alumni activities from the 1940s until 2012, the date of his 60th reunion.
Mr. Lightner married Betty Pauline Jenkins, whom he met at church, in 1950. The couple had three children. She died 23 years ago.
A dedicated researcher on family history, Mr. Lightner was a member of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, the Berks County Genealogical Society, the Tulpehocken Settlement Historical Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution. He was also a member of the Berks and Chester County Historical Societies and the Society of Genealogists (London).
He was active in United Methodist Church affairs as a leader and lay person, and as a delegate to the World Methodist Council in Rio de Janeiro in 1996.
For the last 18 years, he had lived at Croasdaile Village United Methodist Retirement Home in Durham, where he was the "unofficial mayor."He entertained the nurses with bits from Ernest and Vern, his daughter said.
Besides his daughter, he is survived by daughter Laura Lightner Gorham; son Kevin Muir Lightner; and two grandchildren.
Services were Friday, May 12, in West Chester.
Contributions may be made to the Hock Family Pavilion, Duke Hospice, 4023 N. Roxboro Rd., Durham, N.C. 27704, or Croasdaile Benevolent Fund, 2600 Croasdaile Farm Pkwy., Durham, N.C. 27705.