Obituary, Robert Francis Williams

Robert Francis Williams, of Pawling, NY, died peacefully at home July 31. Born May 22, 1925 in Batavia, NY, Bob was the son of William and Katherine Williams, the second born of 6 children. His brothers and sister were his lifelong friends.

Bob served in the U.S. Army during the Second World War.  After training with the Tank Corps, Bob then was shifted to infantry duty to serve in Italy, where the terrain was too hilly for tanks. During his service, Bob’s business acumen emerged: he sold American cigarettes to Italian citizens, sending home a sizable profit to his parents in upstate New York.

Serving in the infantry, he fired 45-caliber water-cooled machine guns – a duty which caused him lifelong hearing damage. He also contracted hepatitis B during the war, which, unfortunately, earned him “disabled veteran” status. Yet he built a life based not on disability, but on his abilities. The GI Bill allowed Bob to pursue an education that his family would not otherwise have been able to afford, and he encouraged his younger brothers to pursue degrees as well.  Thanks to the GI bill, he earned an undergraduate degree in 1949 at Hobart College, where he worked as a manager for an athletic team, and traveled home to maintain a weekend job in Batavia as well. He then earned an MBA at University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.  Still not finished, he graduated NYU Law School with support from NYS Regents, and then registered for continuing education classes at Columbia University which qualified him for free dormitory housing as he began his working life.

Bob was both a proud veteran and a strong supporter of peace-related groups and causes. His experiences in the war, though he was reluctant to discuss them, planted in him a commitment to seek and support peaceful solutions to world problems.  During his time at Columbia, Bob joined a Christian social action group, where he met Katherine Roulston, his life partner.  Their shared faith and concern for peace and justice brought them together and formed a foundation for 61 years of marriage. Seeking to live out these values throughout their lives, Bob and Kay sought a Quaker-related retirement community together and lived at Kendal on Hudson for 12 happy years.

Bob’s work setting also gave him an opportunity to support the causes he favored: as Clerk-Treasurer of the Collegiate Church Corporation for 33 years, he became landlord to numerous social-action agencies. As a resident of lower Manhattan, he also served on the Downtown Community Board.

Prior to his long service with Collegiate, Bob worked at Chase Bank and at Allied Chemical.  A supervisor at Allied, who was a leader in the Collegiate churches, recommended Bob for the open position in 1958, and the management of the properties and business concerns of Collegiate became Bob’s life work until his retirement in 1991.

Bob loved his family, his work, and his “gentleman’s farm” in Pawling, NY, where he was always busy. With his children, he planted trees, tended an impressive garden, and raised cows and other livestock. Until his last years, he continued to raise and give away vegetables, rhubarb and berries, to stock an abundance of bird feeders, and to dig up shrubs and plants to share with friends and relatives. Always seeking to help others or give to others, Bob quietly supported numerous individuals, taking them to appointments or helping with their paperwork. When visiting relatives, Bob was known to ask, “do you have any elderly neighbors who could use some help?” Bob was also a generous donor to innumerable causes related to faith-based action for a peaceful world.

Bob was a member and leader of the Pawling United Methodist Church. He loved to attend Campbell Folk School, where he learned new skills such as chair-caning, and the Chautauqua Institution, where he and Kay spent a week each summer at the United Methodist House, a community which became a second church home for them.

Bob leaves a grateful and loving family. He will be dearly missed by his children, Ken Williams and Ruth Williams; their spouses, Holly Nye and Ed Herman; and his 5 grandchildren: Chloe Williams, Kaitlyn Williams Spafford, Michael Herman, Jonah Williams, and Emma Herman.   Predeceased by his brothers Donald, William, and Joseph Williams, Bob leaves two surviving siblings, Jerry Williams and Shirley Card, as well as sisters-in-law Alice Williams, Lauretta Williams, and Betty Cameron, and brother-in-law Gordon ‘Don’ Cameron; and dozens of nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

Bob’s life will be celebrated in a service of remembrance, August 25th at the Pawling United Methodist Church at 2 PM..