Beene of Baptist Communicators dies unexpectedly

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Keith Beene, the 40-year-old administrator of a professional society for Baptist communications professionals, died unexpectedly in the early hours of Nov. 16, according to the group’s president. David Winfrey, president of the Baptist Communicators Association (BCA), said on the afternoon of Nov. 16 that he was still waiting to hear the cause of death.

Beene’s widow, Ellen, said he simply “didn’t wake up this morning,” Winfrey wrote, in an e-mail to his fellow BCA officers.
Keith Beene worked part time as the association’s only paid employee. The body is a professional-development organization for public-relations professionals, journalists, designers and others who do work for Baptist organizations.

Beene helped the group maintain its Web site and mailing lists, arrange a workshop gathering and awards banquet that attracts scores of members annually, administer a scholarship program and arrange other professional-development and networking events for Baptist communicators.

Winfrey said Beene, who worked from his home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., was also a stay-at-home father to the couple’s two children. Ellen Beene is employed by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, located in nearby Nashville.