Naida Milton Knotts (90) went on to be with Jesus and her beloved husband on January 18 2019. Naida was married to her teenaged sweetheart James Knotts for 71 years. She lived her last 24 years in Saint Matthews, SC.
Naida enjoyed painting, crocheting, cross stich, quilling, walking and the outdoors. Naida owned and raised bees, goats, quail, chickens, horses, rabbits, etc. ….
almost every kind of domesticated animal short of cows. Naida was a member of and loved Gethsemane Baptist church in St Matthews. While living in Cayce, Jim and Naida were members of Broadacres Baptist Church in Cayce.
Naida and Jim owned and operated “The Columbia Motel” in Cayce, SC for ~30 years. They also operated “Knotts Pots”, a successful plant nursery and a Christian-based restaurant called Eastern Gate before retiring to the less stressful life in St. Matthews. Naida is said to have turned down 17 proposals for marriage before Jim Knotts was able to get her to say “yes”.
Naida loved the Lord and wasn’t afraid to tell you about God’s love for you. While living in Cayce, Naida co-founded a death-row prison ministry called “For God So Loved Prison Ministry”. The ministry started when unbeknownst to Naida and Jim two 17yr old escape convicts were on the run and had rented a room from them.
Authorities showed up the next morning and captured the inmates; one was hiding under the bed and the other in the shower. The experience haunted Naida and she out to find the boys and traced them back to CCI. That discovery led to a 30+ year prison that is still active today.
She and Betts Davis —who Naida talked into going to the prison together —were named 1992 volunteers of the year by the prison system. They ministered to inmates down in the hole that even the guards feared, many times in the cell with the most dangerous prisoners. The inmates loved her dearly.
Any prisoner knew not to harm her since if they did, they knew they would be killed by the other prisoners. The cross from the old CCI prison facility now resides at their beloved Broadacres Baptist Church in Cayce. Naida is survived by daughter Janet Stafford (David), sons John Knotts and Brian Knotts (Rhonda), 17 grandchildren, 27 great grandchildren and sister Ann Tipping.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, James Knotts, daughter Marilyn Stafford, son James (Hal) Knotts Jr, grandson John Knotts II, great grandson Joshua Smith, sister Sara Edwards and brother Johnny Milton. The family will receive friends starting at noon at the Celestial Memorial Gardens chapel (3111 Delree St W Columbia) with the funeral following at 1pm and burial will follow. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Gethsemane Baptist Church, 655 Hammonds Cross Road, St Matthews, SC 29135.
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