Billie Alice (Edwards) Baldwin

Billie Edwards Baldwin

Billie was a well-known figure in Ashe County. During her life she was active in many civic and faith-centered organizations. She served as Minister’s Wife at Beaver Creek Christian Church for twenty-one years, and made friends far and near during her years selling clothing at The Jefferson House.


Before finally settling down in West Jefferson in 1974 she and her husband John had served at Dewey Christian Church and Liberty Christian Church, both in Mountain City, Tennessee; Stone Memorial Christian Church in Collinsville, Virginia and Kempsville Church of Christ in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Life-long ‘church family’ friends were made during these years. She was looking forward to seeing many of them again.


On New Years Day, 1941, Billie was given a five-year diary. She began on that day to write a few lines. She wrote her ‘few lines’ every day after that, eventually filling seventeen diaries. At age ninety her macular degeneration was so advanced that she could no longer see to write. Newspaper stories and television interviews about her unique hobby were frequent occurences during the 74 years she spent recording details both tiny (“April 5, 1952: Gladys and I washed windows”) and grand (“December 8, 1941: The United States declared war on Japan.”). Her play ‘’Walking With Our Wonderful Lord” was presented in churches from Virginia Beach to West Jefferson. In 2004 she published a memoir titled ‘’The Road Is Mine’’. In it she recounted the joys and sorrows of a life lived in service to God.


Billie will best be remembered for her annual Ladies Prayer Retreat, held each April at Beaver Creek Christian Church. For thirty years, from 1982 until 2012, ladies from churches all over the Southeast would gather in Ashe County for a day of worship, fellowship, learning and sharing in the Love of Jesus Christ. Attendance often exceeded 250 participants. Billie would sometimes be the featured speaker; other times she spoke at other retreats from Coastal Virginia to Texas. Billie considered The Ladies Prayer Retreat her crowning achievement. The untold number of lives that she touched during her life-long ministry would surely agree.


The family would like to express deep appreciation to Hospice of Southern West Virginia, care-giver Anita Reid, and special gratitude for the loving care of Shane and his family.
Memorial Services for Billie Edwards Baldwin will take place on July 9, 2022 at Beaver Creek Christian Church. Visitation begins at 1:00 P.M. followed by the service at 2:00 P.M.
The family respectully requests no flowers and suggests that COVID protocols be observed. Those wishing to honor Billie’s memory may make donations to Hospice of Southern West Virginia, P.O. Box 1472, Beckley, West Virginia 25802 or to the Cemetery Fund of Beaver Creek Christian Church 1678 Beaver Creek School Road, West Jefferson, NC 28694.

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