Dr. Tilman Keith Edwards

North Augusta, SC – Funeral Services for Dr. Tilman Keith Edwards, 95, who entered into rest November 21, 2024, will be conducted Monday afternoon, December 2 at 2 o'clock from Sweetwater Baptist Church, Dr. Paul W. Noe and Rev. Chester Keith Phillips officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends at the church one hour prior to the service.
In the scripture, Luke, the Evangelist, is referred to as "the beloved physician". This title could also fit our dad, Dr. Tilman Keith Edwards.
Keith was born December 18, 1928, in Swansea, South Carolina, the third child of Dr. Ben and Hattie Edwards of Swansea. He graduated from Swansea High School as the Salutatorian of his class. He studied one year at Baylor University but left to serve his country in the Marine Corps. He finished boot camp just as World War II was ending and served his time state-side. After the Marines, he attended the University of South Carolina graduating with a BS in chemistry. Following college, Keith was admitted to Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest University.
On June 14, 1953, in his last year of medical school, Keith married a young nurse, Alice Jean Blankenship. Their plan was to sail to Nigeria, West Africa and serve as missionaries but before they went to Nigeria, they spent one year in Bluefield, West Virginia while Keith did a residency in family practice. Then they moved to Nigeria as missionaries with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. There they built a home, grew a family, and served as medical missionaries from 1957-1968. While on the field, the need arose for an obstetrician and the mission asked if any of their doctors would be willing to do a residency in OB. Keith volunteered and started an OBGYN residency through Bowman Gray.
However, civil war broke out in Nigeria and the family returned to America in June of 1968. They settled in Winston Salem, NC where they lived for two years while Keith completed his residency. The family moved back to Bluefield, WV in 1970 where he began a private medical practice. During his years in Bluefield, Keith was an active member of First Baptist Church where he and Alice together taught a joint Sunday School class. While living in Bluefield, he also served one year as interim president of Bluefield College from 1996-1997.
After retiring from his medical practice, Keith and Alice moved to North Augusta, South Carolina to spend their retirement years nearer to some of their children. They became active members of Sweetwater Baptist Church where both taught Sunday School classes.
Dr. T. Keith Edwards ministered and preached the gospel to people on two continents. He had a brilliant mind and even in old age he continued to study new things, especially working to gain new insights into God's word. How he loved Scripture! His skilled surgeon's hands saved many lives. He brought many others into this world. He was the beloved physician, indeed. Dr Edwards spent his life loving, serving, and helping others and was loved in return by many. People on two continents-his patients, friends, and the members of his many Sunday School classes-loved him. Alice, his wife of sixty-six years and his children and grandchildren loved him dearly too.
Keith is preceded in death by his wife, Alice Jean Blankenship Edwards. Those left to cherish his memory include his five children, Marianne Phillips (Kent), Harriet Michael (John), Alisa Smith (Malbert), Benjy Edwards (Deb), Abel Solademi (Abike), along with fourteen grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren and four step great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Logan Phillips, Vince Phillips, Bunmi Solademi, Trapper Michael, Ty Michael and Mally Smith.
Memorials may be made to Bluefield Baptist University, 3000 College Avenue, Bluefield, VA 24605.