Elizabeth (Beth) Purvis Obituary

Elizabeth (Beth) Purvis

Aiken - Elizabeth (Beth) Ann Percle Purvis, 76, died after a brief hospitalization on Thursday, February 26, 2026.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she moved with her family to Aiken at an early age and lived most of her life here. She attended Aiken public schools and graduated from Aiken High School in 1967. She earned her bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from the University of South Carolina.

Her career in education began as a classroom teacher before moving on to administration. She was the Aiken County School District's personnel director and became principal at New Ellenton Middle School and then Wagener-Salley High School. She was an adjunct faculty member at the University of South Carolina Aiken.

Beth was active in First Presbyterian Church, especially with the youth of the congregation. She worked with the senior high group and went on several trips out of state to work on repairing homes of the less fortunate. She also worked with her husband Kin on Global Village with Habitat for Humanity building homes in foreign countries. They helped build Global Village homes in Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Jordan and Vietnam. Beth always said that her favorite country was Kyrgyzstan.

After retirement, Beth and Kin enjoyed traveling and visited more than 60 countries – some of them more than once. They visited every continent except Antarctica, and Beth looked at the rough seas from lower South America and decided she did not want to go any farther. As recently as last month she and Kin were in Kenya for a three-week vacation.

Beth was the daughter of Elmo and Betty Percle. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Jan. Survivors include her husband of 55 years, Kin; a sister, Rebecca Smith of Aiken; a brother, Fred Scarborough of Bluffton and a niece Rachel Green of Myrtle Beach.

In keeping with her lifelong pursuit of educating others, Beth donated her body to the Medical College of Georgia.

A celebration of life service will be held at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Aiken's First Presbyterian Church or the American Cancer Society.

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