Dr. Harold L. Williams

WILLIAMS, Dr. Harold L., retired general surgeon, died at the James River Convalescent Center in Newport News on Monday, October 27, 2008. Dr. Williams was born in Greenville, N.C., on November 23, 1927, and lived there 16 years until he and his twin brother, Lewis H. Williams, went away to Duke University to become doctors, graduating from medical school in January 1951. After two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, the twins went their separate ways, Lewis to become an obstetrician-gynecologist in Richmond and Harold, a general surgeon on the Peninsula. Arriving here in July 1958, Dr. Williams practiced surgery for 34 years until 1992. Dr. Williams is survived by his beloved wife, Ann Camper Williams; two sons, Mark Williams of Newport News and Jeffrey Williams and his wife, Sharon, and their daughter, LeAnne, of Newport News; three daughters, Kay Weber and her husband, Rick, and their sons, Eli and Charlie, and their daughter, Mattie, of Owings, Md., Carol McClendon and her husband, Mike, and their children, David and Sarah, of Richmond, Va., and Penny Olijar and her husband, Paul, and their son, Alexander, of Pittsburgh, Pa. He is also survived by one sister, Mrs. Tollie Spivey of McLean, Va.; and numerous nieces and nephews. Dr. Williams was past president of the Riverside Hospital Staff, the Riverside Surgery Staff, the Newport News Medical Society, and the Medical Society of Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia Surgical Society, the AMA, and the American College of Surgeons, was a diplomate of the American Board of Surgery, and served for eight years as a delegate to the American Medical Association. He was also a member of Trinity United Methodist Church of Newport News and the Sons of the American Revolution, Thomas Nelson Jr. Chapter. In addition, he served from 1992 to 2000 on the Board of Visitors of Christopher Newport University. Dr. Williams took an active interest in Republican politics upon arriving on the Peninsula and tried to help local and statewide candidates for 40 years. He served on the State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia for 24 consecutive years and attended the Republican National Conventions of 1964 and 1976 as a delegate. However, the crash of Richard Obenshain's plane in 1978 and the undermining of Oliver North's Senate campaign in 1993 by fellow Republican, John Warner, cooled his enthusiasm, and he quietly withdrew from any active role. Other than surgery, Dr. Williams' interests lay in history and literature. Many nights while making rounds, he would flop down in an easy chair or on the end of a patient's bed to recite poetry or prose for those patients exhibiting an interest. His favorites were: "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke, Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", the last two pages of The Great Gatsby, Snow-Bound, Henry V's speech at Agincourt, and Cyrano de Bergerac. Dr. Williams was predeceased by his mother, Mattie Carson of Parmelee, N.C.; his father, James Lewis Williams of Greenville, N.C.; one sister, and three brothers. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Peninsula Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at the funeral home at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 30. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy should be directed to Trinity United Methodist Church, 228 29th Street, Newport News, Va.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.