Welch College President Emeritus Charles A. Thipgen died today in Macon, Georgia. He was 94 years old. His wife, Mrs. Laura Coker Thigpen, died earlier this week, Monday, December 28. They both had been hospitalized for COVID-19 at the time of their deaths.
The Thigpens leave behind a long legacy with Welch College. They joined the faculty in 1948. Except for a four-year stint as pastor of a Free Will Baptist church in Michigan, Dr. Thigpen served on the faculty of the college until 1991. He held the position of academic dean for over twenty years (1957-79). From 1979 to 1990, he served as Welch’s president, followed by a year as the college’s first chancellor.
Dr. and Mrs. Thigpen were preceded in death by their son Jonathan, a Welch alumnus who had served as a faculty member at Welch and also president of the Evangelical Training Association. Please pray for their daughters, Laura Cannon, Ann Maines, Ruth Slaten, and daughter-in-law Yvonne Thigpen, all of whom are Welch alumni, and their extended families. There will be a private service with a public memorial at a later date.