Beaufort mourns loss of Dr. Elijah Washington. His legacy of care lives on
Beaufort has lost a giant in local health care, Elijah Washington, who delivered thousands of babies in his long career, brought health care to the impoverished in rural Beaufort County and studied a disease that primarily affects African Americans before becoming a pastor later in life so he also could meet the spiritual needs of people he cared deeply about.
Washington, whose titles included reverend and doctor, died Friday at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. The Lady’s Island resident was 83.
Washington rose from humble beginnings in Sheldon to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta and later Meharry Medical College in Nashville before becoming a well-known obstetrician-gynecologist and household name in Beaufort County.
In the early 1970s, as a young doctor, Washington was convinced to leave the U.S. Navy to return to Sheldon to work for the Beaufort Jasper Comprehensive Health Services (BJCHS) in rural communities north of Beaufort like Sheldon, Dale, Seabrook and Yemessee. The federally funded not-for-profit was formed to address health care disparities in rural Beaufort County after it was discovered that malnutrition was a problem even as late as the late 1960s.
“He made one of the greatest impacts of all health care providers that I know who are native people of this area,” Thomas C. Barnwell of Hilton Head, who was project director of BJCHS at the time, told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet.
“His impact was, is and will be far-reaching for many, many years,” Barnwell added. “There are people whom he was responsible for coming into the world that will never know him. He came out of the Navy voluntarily to be of service when he was so desperately needed to provide health care services to the residents of Beaufort and Jasper counties.”
Barnwell recruited Washington to return to the Sheldon area because of the desperate need for doctors. Barnwell wanted Washington because he was local and came highly recommended. However, getting Washington, who was on active duty in the Navy then, would not be simple. Strom Thurmond, he noted, the state’s former governor and long-time U.S. senator known for his opposition to civil rights legislation, intervened. “I went to get Dr. Washington out of the Navy without losing time,” Barnwell recalled.
From 1975 to 1983, Washington was the only OB/GYN provider at the clinic where he often saw 40 patients a day.
Washington also joined the staff at Beaufort Memorial Hospital in the 1970s where he rose to become chief of staff. He was instrumental in integrating the staff at the hospital and also mentored many young doctors over the years.
Washington said later in life that he was inspired by the advice of Booker T. Washington, the renowned author and educator, to “Cast down your bucket where you are.” For Washington, that was Beaufort County.
“He never lost that common touch,” Ed Allen, the former Beaufort County Coroner and close friend of Washington, told the newspapers. “He always gave back to the community, especially the Black community, in terms of taking care of patients.”
In 1984, Allen and his wife were at Beaufort Memorial, expecting the birth of a son, when Dr. Washington surprised Allen, an EMT and paramedic, when he said, “You do the delivery.”
“He convinced me to deliver my own son,” said Allen, breaking down in tears at the recollection of the special moment.
That son was Danny Allen, who is a lieutenant with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office today.
Thousands of Beaufort County residents can share similar delivery room stories about Washington.
It is estimated that Washington delivered more than 10,000 babies in Beaufort County.
That’s one fact shared in a lengthy resolution that the Beaufort City Council passed in Washington’s honor Tuesday, when members sang Washington’s praises. City Manager Scott Marshall asked for a moment of silence for a man whose death he said leaves a “deep chasm” in the community. The city remembered Washington for his exceptional contribution to the medical profession and as a spiritual leader who shaped the fabric of the community.
“The Council hereby declares that Dr. Elijah Washington shall forever be remembered in Beaufort -- as a healer, guide, mentor and inspiration to many,” it says.
Today, the BJCHS clinic in Sheldon, the Elijah Washington Medical Center, bears Washington’s name.
“This clinic has made a big difference in the health of the community,” Washington told the city of Beaufort in a profile written about him in 2023. “There is no question about it.”
He also researched sickle cell anemia, which disproportionately affects Black people, and his studies found that patients who ate seafood regularly had fewer symptoms.
Later in life, Washington became a minister and served for many years at First African Baptist Church on St. Helena Island, a church with deep roots in Gullah Geechee culture that dates to 1863.
Growing up, Allen said, Washington looked up to doctors and ministers. As a doctor, Allen said, Washington brought lives into the world. As a minister, he said, “he looked at the spiritual needs.”
“He’s been a truly remarkable individual,” Allen said.
Services
Public viewing will be from 4-7 p.m. Friday in the JMW Memorial Chapel of Marshel’s Wright-Donaldson Home For Funerals, 1814 Greene St., Beaufort. A celebration of life service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bethesda Christian Fellowship, 36 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., St. Helena Island, SC 29920. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Monday in the Beaufort National Cemetery with military honors
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 10:54 AM.
