Ronald James Caldwell, Ph.D., died at home on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at the age of 81. He was born on July 2, 1943, at the Pensacola (Florida) Maternity Home, the son of Drexel Pascal and Gladys Enfinger Caldwell. He attended Hallmark School, Blount Junior High School, Pensacola High School, Pensacola Junior College, and Florida State University. Over the years, he received many awards and recognitions for his academic work. The award of which he was most proud was the History Medal for the highest grades in history courses at Pensacola High School (in a class of nearly 500 students).
In 1966, he married Sandra Moffett Marshall of Pensacola. He was an instructor of history at Orlando Junior College from 1966 to 1968. He was a part-time instructor at FSU from 1968 to 1970.
From 1971 to 1999, he served in the History Department at Jacksonville State University, where he achieved the rank of full professor. He then served for three years as librarian and assistant head of the South Carolina Room of the Charleston County Public Library.
Dr. Caldwell published six books and numerous articles on modern European history and on church history. In 1994, he published A History of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, Alabama, 1844-1994. In 2017, he published A History of the Episcopal Church Schism in South Carolina.
After leaving Charleston, he retired to Jacksonville, Alabama, and pursued his favorite hobbies, gardening, and travel. He took a lot adjacent to his home and developed a beautiful botanical garden. He explored the country on Amtrak, following all of the main routes to the West Coast.
He is survived by his wife, his daughters Margaret Mary Caldwell Shatswell (of Jacksonville) and Elizabeth Anne Caldwell (of Lancaster, South Carolina/her husband, The Rev. Philip Emanuel), and by Margaret’s daughter, Madison Rae Shatswell, of Durant, Oklahoma.
A memorial service will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. The family will receive guests in the parish hall beginning at 10:00 a.m. Dr. Caldwell’s ashes will be interred at Bayview Memorial Park in Pensacola at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 55, Jacksonville, Alabama 36265.
