Emma Jean (English) Ashley

Emma Jean Ashley, 72, of Rocksprings, passed away, at 1:10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, at her residence. Born September 27, 1952, in Athens, Ohio, she was the daughter of the late Ellis Rual and Freda Florence Blake English. She was a career elementary school teacher for 35 years at the Meigs Local Schools, teaching at Rutland, Middleport, and Meigs Elementary Schools. Emma is a 1971 salutatorian of Federal Hocking High School and a cum laude graduate from Ohio University in 1975. She later earned her master’s degree from the University of Dayton. She was a member of the Alpha Delta Theta honorary history fraternity and the Alpha Delta Kappa honorary woman teacher’s sorority. 

Emma was a charter member of the Hope Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School and served on the building committee. She is past vice regent of the Return Jonathan Meigs Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a member of the First Families of Ohio and Chester Council No. 323 Daughters of America. She is also a member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Woman’s Relief Corps. 

She leaves her husband, Keith, whom she married on September 3, 1977, in Racine, and her three daughters, Rachel (Nathan) Carter, of Goshen, Oh., Whitney (Paul) Ditty, of Logan, Oh., and Emily (Matthew) Deckerd, of Beloit, Oh. Grandchildren, Bryce Carter, Crockett Carter, Gavin Carter, Valerie Carter, Ella Ditty, Joseph Ditty, Liam Ditty, Griffin Deckerd, and Cassady Deckerd, her three siblings, Ellis English, of Gallipolis, Myra Randolph, of Mineral Wells, WV., and Jerry Jones, of Elizabeth, WV., and her half-sister, Nancy Blake, of Coolville, Oh., also survive. 

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, July 28, 2025, in the Cremeens-King Funeral Home, Racine. Rev. Joe Johnson will officiate, and interment will follow in the Letart Falls Cemetery. Friends may call from 3-6pm on Sunday, and two hours prior to the service on Monday at the funeral home. 

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