Erik Joseph Drylie

North Augusta, SC – Services for Erik Joseph Drylie, 39, devoted husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend, who died unexpectedly on April 23, 2023, will be conducted Saturday morning at 10 o’clock from Quest Church, Pastor John Kenney officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Friday evening from 5 until 7. Erik was raised on Hilton Head Island, where he enjoyed wearing his shorts and flip-flops many days on the beach. His path led him to a life of serving others. Erik graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in law and returned to South Carolina to serve as an attorney. He dedicated his legal career to public service, serving as an Assistant Solicitor and former Public Defender in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and as an attorney educator at the USC Children’s Law Center. Erik also served as a member of the Edgefield County Board of Education. While Erik had many professional accomplishments, his legacy will remain because of his service to children and youth. Erik served as a volunteer recreation basketball coach and as an active volunteer with the youth ministry at Quest Church. Erik and his wife Melinda served as foster parents and 13 children were loved and nurtured in their home. While they enjoyed fostering, the last foster children they were asked to love stole their hearts and in October of 2022, they stole their last name. Erik often played basketball with Michael in the driveway and helped Dixie with homework. He cooked gourmet meals in their home every night, and he was mostly devoted to being their dad and Melinda’s husband. Erik will always be Michael and Dixie’s biggest fan. Erik is preceded in death by his grandmothers, Emmy Lou Drylie and Betty Church. Erik is survived by his wife, Melinda, his children, Dixie and Michael, his father Al Drylie, his mother, Annie Drylie, his sister and brother-in-law Heather and Scott Grupp, his nieces, Emma and Layla Grupp, his mother-in-law, Teresa Kezer, his sisters-in-law, Brittney Kezer, Michelle Hyden (Andrew) and his nieces Hailey, Forest, Lilly, and Zoe Hallman. Erik’s life mission revolved around James 1:27. He believed in caring for the vulnerable, and spent time serving in an orphanage in Guatemala and then by fostering children in his home state of South Carolina. Erik would love nothing more than donations being made in his memory for such causes. Therefore, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Erik’s memory to Fostering the Family at fosteringthefamily.kindful.com or to The Hale Foundation at 402 Walker St., Augusta, GA 30901.

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Erik Joseph Drylie

June 4, 1983 - April 23, 2023