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'Preacher Dan' Blackwell dies at age 89

'Preacher Dan' Blackwell died Friday, July 21, 2023.

By Lightning Reports, Published: July 29, 2023

The Rev. James Dan Blackwell, who baptized babies, officiated at weddings and offered memorable eulogies while clinging steadfastly to scripture during more than 60 years of delivering that old-time religion, died Friday, July 21, hours after he left a Vacation Bible School class at Dana Baptist Church. He was 89.

“Everybody knew my grandfather, nobody didn’t know my grandfather,” Dotty Parker said Friday. “He brought a lot of people to Jesus when they were small children and he preached at several churches. There’s hardly anyone that you can’t go and say, ‘Hey, do you know preacher Dan Blackwell?’ ‘Yeah, yeah. He prayed for me when I was eight years old at Upward Baptist Church, or, he married my brother and sister, he married by grandparents.’ He knows everybody.”

Born Aug, 24, 1933, Dan was one of nine children of Mack and Nellie Blackwell. Although he was not the baby, he outlived all his siblings. For 68 years he was married Marie Orr Blackwell for 68 years, who preceded him in death. He was also preceded in death by his parents, brothers Ray Blackwell, L.B. Blackwell, Seagle Blackwell, Curtis Blackwell, Johnny Blackwell, Luther Blackwell, Arvil Blackwell, and sister Jessie Sherman; his daughter Kay, and grandson Jamie.

Born and raised in Henderson County, he graduated from Dana High School, served in the U.S. Army at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and attended Gardner-Webb college.

Blackwell devoted his life to Christ at an early age. Ordained while in the Army, “Preacher Dan” served as a minister for 64 years in Baptist churches across rural Henderson County, including Locust Grove, Beulah, Upward and, until his death, Dana.

“They were having Bible school all week last week,” Parker said of her grandfather’s last act of living his faith by serving a church. “The last time he was at church was Thursday night, and he died Friday morning. He attended every single night. If there was Bible school he was there.”

Preacher Dan was known to deliver “old timey Southern Baptist sermons,” she said. “My grandfather believed strongly in the Bible, and the Bible was black and white. There was no gray area. He was just a very Southern Baptist preacher.”

Dan and his daughter Kay founded KayDan insurance in 1999 and grew it into a thriving business selling crop insurance and serving claims across the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition to apples, the father-daughter team sold policies that covered losses from natural disaster for tomatoes, corn and soybeans. After her mother died in 2017, Parker took over as a partner in the business.

Another longtime friend, former cooperative extension director Marvin Owings Jr., recalled that Blackwell agreed “without hesitation” when he asked him to conduct a close friend’s memorial service in Central, South Carolina.

“He gave this wonderful eulogy,” Owings said, and on the way home, “I said, ‘Dan, I want to make sure that you live longer than I do so you can do a eulogy because that was one of the best I’ve ever heard.’”

Whether it was paying claims for devastating crop losses, praying and preaching or cheering people up, “He just contributed a lot to Henderson County and to the apple industry,” Owings said.

Parker gave her grandfather a final gift very recently.

“It’s just been three or four weeks ago that they flew him to Los Angeles and they drove up the coastline all the way up to Washington,” said Sherry King, Blackwell’s niece. “And he had the best time. Dottie said he just loved it. They both did. They both love seeing all that stuff.”

Blackwell couldn’t leave the house without running into someone he knew, and when asked how he was, his answer always was “mighty fine, mighty fine.”

His favorite pastimes were to go out loafing, shopping at yard sales, drinking peach juice from the Golden Corral buffet and solving the daily puzzles in the newspaper.

He is survived by sons Danny (Michelle), David (Rhonda), Tommy (Stephanie) and Stevie (Shayna); 11 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren and numerous other loved ones and friends. At the memorial service before a packed sanctuary at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Tuesday, July 25, the Rev. Steve Scoggins noted that Preacher Dan had conducted 2,040 funeral services. Blackwell’s burial followed at Locust Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.

“People started coming in at 12:30 (for visitation) and we had to stop people from coming in at 3 because of the funeral,” Parker said.

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Condolences may be sent to the Blackwell family at jacksonfuneralservice.com or to Jackson Funeral Service, 1101 Greenville Highway. Please include the name of the deceased in your correspondence. Jackson Funeral Service contributed to this news obituary.