Charles Eugene (Gene) Craven

Reverend Charles Eugene (Gene) Craven

July 14, 1931 – April 11, 2026

Reverend Charles Eugene (Gene) Craven, age 94, entered into the presence of his Lord on April 11, 2026, after a long life marked by faith, service, and joy.

Gene was born on July 14, 1931, in Hickory, North Carolina, the son of James Robert Craven and Gennie Elizabeth Warwick Craven. From the very beginning, life asked much of him. His twin brother died at birth, and four years later his mother passed as well. Yet what grief tried to take from Gene, grace seemed always to restore — in abundance. He grew up in Newland and Boone, North Carolina, experiences that shaped both his resilience and his deep love for the mountains he would return to in the final years of his life.

He graduated from Davidson College, where he channeled his considerable tenacity into a successful wrestling career, and went on to attend Columbia Theological Seminary, where he found the calling that would shape every remaining decade of his life.

That calling sharpened considerably the day he met Blair Isbell. Captivated by her faith and her commitment to serving Christ as a missionary to Asia, Gene courted her with enough persistence and charm that she agreed to take him along for the journey. They wed in 1954, and in 1958, with their children Randy and Janet in tow, the Craven family sailed for Taiwan to begin missionary service under the Presbyterian Church. By the time they returned to the States a decade later, the family had grown to six, with the arrival of Sally and Mark.

Back in America, Gene joined the pastoral staff of First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his love for God and for people found fresh expression. He was particularly drawn to college students — a season many remember fondly, including his leadership of the touch-football team, Craven's Crushers. Whether on the field or in a living room, Gene had a gift for helping people begin and deepen their lives as disciples of Jesus.

In 1976, he accepted the call to serve as senior pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he poured himself into evangelism, global missions, and Christian education. He later became pastor of Freedom Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, and it was during this period that he and Blair opened their home on Lake Norman as a Christian retreat center they called Quiet Waters — a name that suited both the setting and the man.

When Blair became paralyzed, Gene set aside his role as retreat host without hesitation and became her full-time caregiver. He often expressed deep gratitude for the privilege of serving her in those years, after all her decades of serving him. Both of them remained, by every account, full of joy.

After Blair's death in 2012, Gene returned to Rock Hill as resident chaplain at Westminster Towers, which he affectionately called Next Door to Heaven. In 2022, at age 90, he finally retired from vocational ministry and returned to the mountains of Western North Carolina where his story had begun, this time to the home of his daughter Janet and son-in-law Phil in Asheville.

It was there, after a long life filled with many good days, that he had his best one. Having fought the good fight and kept the faith, Gene finished his race and entered the presence of the One whose face he had spent his entire life longing to see.

Gene is survived by his daughter Janet (Phil) Linton of Asheville; his daughter Sally (Todd) Wessman of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; his son Mark (Rebecca) Craven of Charlotte; ten grandchildren; and fourteen great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Blair, his son Randy, his twin brother, and all six of his siblings.

A memorial will be held on Saturday April 18th at 11am at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Rock Hill, SC. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Charles Eugene (Gene) Craven, please visit our floral store.