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Subject: [CAYolo] William "Bill" Arnold WILLIAMS (1922-2003) (obit)
Date: 28 May 2003 15:16:19 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: WILLIAMS, MOORE, FOSSDAHL, GIFFIN
Classification: Obituary

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http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/JY.2ADE/2398

Message Board Post:

Bill Williams

William "Bill" Arnold Williams died of cardiac arrest on May 21, 2003, at South Sacramento Kaiser Hospital. He was 80 years old.

Born in Johnson City, N.Y., on Aug. 2, 1922, he graduated from Johnson City High School in 1940 as valedictorian of his senior class. For a year after high school, he worked at the IBM factory at night to earn money for college.

For two summers, 1940 and 1941, he worked on a friend's family farm to gain experience in agriculture, which was a requirement for acceptance to Cornell University's Agriculture College. He enrolled in Cornell's agronomy department in 1941 and had the top grades in his freshman class.

During his freshman year, he met Pat Moore at a Quaker conference on causes of war; they married on Nov. 27, 1943, in Sage Chapel at Cornell while he was on a two-day leave from the U.S. Army. Williams was a second lieutenant with the field artillery and served in Okinawa during World War II.

He returned to Ithaca, N.Y., in August 1946 and joined Pat at Cornell to complete his bachelor's degree, master's degree and Ph.D. During this time, the couple had three children -- David, Kathy and Andy. He loved to take his family on outings and hikes.

Williams was hired by the UCD department of agronomy in April 1951. He became a full professor and, retiring after 41 years, was presented with three large volumes of his works. As a professor emeritus, he went to the office every day, including Sundays, for 11 years until a few weeks before he died.

Among his awards, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to Adelaide University, Australia, and took the family there for a year in 1966; participated on a National Science Foundation Amazon Alpha Helix research vessel expedition in 1967; was an academic assistant to Chancellor McCorkle in 1967-1968; and received NSF research grants in 1965-68, 1970-73, 1975-78 and 1979-82. In addition, he edited the agricultural section of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology for 18 years, resigning in December 2002.

He was a member of Alpha Zeta, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, American Society of Agronomy, Soil Science Society of America, Society of Range Management, Association for Tropical Biology and the Mathematics Association of America.

He was a helpful, interesting and gracious person, especially with his students. He was a beloved mentor to many.

A prolific reader of books, scientific magazines and newspapers, he would clip articles to share with family, friends and colleagues. He learned to play tennis at age 40 and to downhill ski at age 50. In 1962, the family bought 5 acres at Fallen Leaf Lake in the Sierra Nevada as well as a one-room cabin nearby. Board by board, the family carried the cabin down Cathedral Mountain a quarter-mile to their property, where Williams built the cabin again. His favorite spring activity involved planting berseem clover at the university farm and planting corn, tomatoes and squash at home.

Under the auspices of the Yolo Community Care Continuum, which the Williamses helped create, Bill and Pat purchased or rented 10 buildings to provide services for mentally ill adults: The Farm House, Safe Harbor Crisis House, Haven House Social Center, Be House, Headway Vocational Center, Men's Co-op House for 5, Women's Co-op House for 3, The Light House Social Center, Pine Tree Gardens West, Pine Tree Gardens East and the recent purchase of property for a residential home for elder care.

In 1988, Williams started the Friday night singalong at Pine Tree Gardens, which continues today.

This spring, he received an award of honor from the American Society of Agronomy, given for his "advancement of human welfare and the enhancement of California agriculture." In November 2002, he and his wife received the Thong Hy Huynh Memorial Award from the Davis Human Relations Commission for their humanitarian work. They also were honored in October 2002 by the Yolo County Mental Health Services Agency "for their many years of dedication, endless courage, unlimited time and support for the mental health community of Yolo County."

A loving husband, father, son and big brother to two siblings, Williams is survived by his wife Pat; his daughter and son-in-law, Kathy and Dennis Fossdahl of Davis; his sister and brother-in-law, Jayne and Al Giffin of Port Ludlow, Wash., and Bend, Ore.; his brother and sister-in-law, Don and Luana Williams of Ann Arbor, Mich.; his brother-in-law James Moore and his wife Claire of Palo Alto; four nieces and 11 nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, William T. and Nellie Williams; his sons, David Williams in 1981 and Andy Williams in 1999; and his brother-in-law, Kenneth Moore in 1998.

Family and friends are invited to a viewing Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Davis Funeral Chapel, 116 D St. A memorial service will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Davis Community Church, 412 C St., followed by the burial at 12:15 p.m. at the Davis Cemetery. All are welcome to a reception from 12:45 to 2 p.m. at the church Fellowship Hall.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Pine Tree Gardens, P.O. Box 988, Davis, CA 95617.

(Obituary from the "The Davis Enterprise," Tuesday, May 27, 2003, (Yolo County, California). Submitted with the permission of the "The Davis Enterprise," 315 G Street, Davis, CA 95616, <http://www.davisenterprise.com/>;. Please note: I am not related to the family listed above, and I do not have any further information on this family.)

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