| Sources |
- [S84] E-Mail, Thomas Milligan [tmilligan@cn.edu], 18 Jul 2007.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Pueblo Chieftain (CO), 24 Jul 1992.
On Wednesday afternoon, three out-of-state residents were killed east of Alamosa in a three-car accident.
President Jimmy Carter's former pastor and two other people were killed in that wreck.
The Rev. Charles Trentham, 73, was a passenger in one of the cars. He was pastor of First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., when Carter and his family joined it in 1977.
Also killed were Mary Ellen Eidsen, 51, and her husband, Donald Ray Eidson, 57, of Fayette, Mo.
Trentham's wife, Betty Trentham, 52, was in fair condition at San Luis Valley Medical Center. She suffered a broken heel.
Trentham was pastor of First Baptist Church in Knoxville for 21 years before going to Washington in 1974
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 28 Jul 1992.
TRENTHAM, DR. CHARLES ARTHUR - age 73, of Knoxville, passed away suddenly, Wednesday, July 22nd., 1992 as a result of injuries received in an automobile accident in Alamosa, Colo. He was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Knoxville for 21 years. He served as pastor of First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C., for six years, serving as pastor for President Jimmy Carter. Survived by his wife Ann Gravis Trentham; sons and daughters-in-law David Earl and Reselynn Trentham of North Quincy, Mass., Robert Lee and Rebecca Trentham of Nashville; granddaughter Jennifer Rebecca Trentham of Nashville; stepson Simuel [sic] James Howell of Knoxville and nephew Mark Warwick of Colorado. Funeral service 2 p.m. Thursday, First Baptist Church of Knoxville. The body will lie in state for one hour prior to the service, Dr. Foy Valentine, Dr. Carl Burke and Dr. Robert Puckett officieting. The choir is open to freinds and former members. Rehearsal one hour before the funeral in the music suite. Interment at Union-Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery. The family will receive friends immediately following the interment at the Church of the Redeemer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to Habitat for Humanity, 220 Carrick Street, Suite 224, Knoxville, Tenn. 37921 or Knox County Arthritis Foundation Circle of Hope, 1104 Merchants, Knoxville, Tenn. 37912. Frienda may call at their convenience at Rose Mortuary Broadway chapel.
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 24 Jul 1992.
Dr. Trentham, noted pastor, dies in crash
Colorado wreck claims 2 others
by Bob Barrett, News-Sentinel religious editor
The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Trentham - the pastor for 21 years at Knoxville's First Baptist Church, who later became pastor to President Jimmy Carter - died Wednesday in a head-on car crash near Alamosa, Colo.
Trentham, 73, pastor of a Farragut church, and his wife, Ann, were on their way to New Mexico to visit a friend after attending a meeting of the International Council of Community Churches in Denver.
The Colorado State Patrol reported Trentham was killed Wednesday afternoon when a car driven by Mary Ellen Eidsen, 31, of Fayette, Mo. drifted across the center line of Highway 160, about three miles east of Alamosa, and hit the Trentham vehicle head-on.
Eidsen and her husband David Ray Eidsen, 57, were also killed.
The Trentham car was driven by his wife, Ann, 52, who was aided by a driver's side air bag. Both were wearing seat belts.
Ann Trentham was listed in stable condition with a broken heel at San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center in Alamosa Thursday afternoon.
After the Missouri car struck the Trenthams, it spun 180 degrees and hit another car, according to Colorado trooper John Valdez, but the occupant of that car was not injured.
"There's no way to prove it, but it is my opinion that she (Mary Ellen Eidsen) went to sleep at the wheel," Valdez said.
He said both cars were going about 55 mph, the pavement was dry and the sun was shining at the time of the accident.
The Trenthams were going to New Mexico to visit Foy Valentine, a retired executive secretary of the Southern Baptists' Christian Life Commission and a longtime friend of Trentham. Trentham served two terms as chairman of the Commission.
Trentham was pastor of First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., when Carter and his family joined it in 1977.
Trentham was pastor of Knoxville's First Baptist Church for 21 years and dean of the school of religion at the University of Tennessee for 12 years before he moved to Washington in 1974. He also was the author of at least four books.
"He was loved and revered by the congregation and the community at large," said Dave Ward, associate pastor at First Baptist in Knoxville, who was a staff member of the church during Trentham's tenure.
Ward said Trentham returned to Knoxville about 10 years ago and became pastor of the non-denominational Church of the Redeemer in Farragut.
He also was a two-time member of the executive committee of the Baptist Sunday School Board.
He was an outspoken proponent of civil rights and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to a committee investigating racial turmoil in Birmingham, Ala., in the early 1960s.
Trentham was born in Jefferson City, but his parents moved to Woodbine Avenue in Knoxville and he graduated from Knoxville High School. He attended Mars Hill Junior College and was a graduate of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City.
He held a doctorate of theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctorate in moral philosophy from the University of Edinburgh.
He served as a pastor in Fort Worth, Texas, a professor of religion at Baylor University and a professor of systematic theology at Southwestern Baptist Seminary.
He was associate professor of theology at Southwestern and director of that department when he moved to First Baptist of Knoxville.
In addition to his wife, Trentham leaves his first wife Helen Duncan of Knoxville and two sons by that marriage - Robert, a Nashville lawyer, and David, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.
Trentham also is survived by his second wife, Nancy B. Carter of Knoxville.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
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