Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Obituary

'Wonderful Christian' made Gospel his mission

By MARTY CLEAR
Published November 10, 2006

From an early age, Eddie Gilliam knew exactly what he was meant to do with his life.

"He was on a mission," his son, Joe, said. "And his mission was to make sure that people were ready to go to heaven."

From the time he was a teenager, Mr. Gilliam, who died Nov. 1 at age 84, devoted his life to his family and Jesus.

"He was a wonderful Christian," said his wife, Mary Gilliam. "He brought so many people to the Lord."

Mr. Gilliam was 19 years old and living in Portsmouth, Va., when he met his future wife.

"I was there with a friend, and he had just gone in to mail a letter," she said. "He was 19, and I was 18. On our second date, he asked me to marry him."

They married just three weeks after their first meeting and spent the next 65 years together.

Mr. Gilliam had a career with the U.S. Postal Service, but his passion was missionary work. His wife worked alongside him much of the time.

They often spent summers in Gatlinburg, Tenn., talking to tourists about God and heaven.

Rather than preaching to crowds, they would usually sit on a bench and wait until someone sat down next to them. They'd engage the person and talk to them personally about the Lord.

Mr. Gilliam was affiliated with the Baptist World Missionary Outreach, and worked as a director for Youth for Christ and as a Sunday school teacher in Portsmouth. He later helped build a church in Chattanooga, Tenn., and aided the establishment of an orphanage in Greenville, S.C., where the family lived for 10 years.

His Christian work brought the family to Brandon in 1990. Mr. Gilliam and his wife would often spend their days in shopping malls and at tourist attractions, offering Christian literature and guidance to anyone they happened to meet.

In February, Mr. Gilliam suffered a massive heart attack. For eight months, he was in and out of Brandon Regional Hospital.

"They had special music they played in the hospital whenever a baby was born, and he knew that music," Joe Gilliam said. "He told me, 'You know what I do when I hear that music? I pray for the parents.' That's the kind of man he was. He was suffering physically himself, and close to death, and he was still praying for other people."

His health continued to deteriorate, and he spent his last days at home. "God was there when he died," his wife said. "I really believe that. He worked for the Lord all his life, and God took him home as a reward."

Besides his wife and his son Joe, Mr. Gilliam is survived by another son, the Rev. Thomas Gilliam; six grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; four sisters; and a brother.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 10:55:09]