Avery Lee Williams

Avery Lee Williams dies, Easton Loses Activist Hurtling down a black diamond trail at Loon Mountain, his ski caught an edge and sent him headlong and helmetless into the gnarled tree's trunk. He died instantly. Though it might not, and probably did not happen just that way, it is how he would have wanted to be remembered. Nothing done the easy way, Williams, a "Furnace Village Rat", lived and died in Easton. Born June 29, 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression and scarred by the turmoil of those depressing years. His folks, Avery, Sr and Margaret Adams Williams were renting the second floor of the Warren (and Ethyl) Blood house behind what has been the Blackthorne Tavern, previously the Pickle Barrel run by the Blood twins, George and Gene. Lee lived there for about his first three years, but not without incident. He made the front page of the Boston Globe having been bit on the thumb by a poisonous snake, nearly died after falling into the cesspool and drank enough kerosene from the 50 gallon drum behind the Farnum house to put him into a prolonged coma. More than one Eastonite regrets he survived for all the trouble he caused them over his lifetime. He lived the next twenty-five years at 455 Foundry Street. His dad built the house. Lee fell into the hand dug well, but again escaped drowning, when his dad heard his cries for help and lugged him up in a bucket. It was work at the early age of ten years when Lee went on the job for Frank Gracie, the small dairyman at the Five Corners, now the site of Shaw's Plaza. Lee picked strawberries and pulled weeds for the handsome pay of ten cents an hour. It was only a six hour day and Mr. Gracie gave him an extra nickel with which to buy a candy bar bigger than one that costs a dollar today. At age twelve he graduated to haying chores. Lee had the short pitchfork with which he placed the loose hay pitched up to him on the wagon into the corners. The Nordbeck and Schleicher boys did the pitching. From1947 to 1949 Lee had a paper route for what was the Brockton Enterprise. One had to vie to get a coveted route. The paper was six days a week with no Sunday edition. The cost was four cents a day or twenty-four cents a week. Most customers gave the quarter each week. With the extra penny times the forty two customers, Lee had a nice bonus with which to treat himself. The route was four miles each way and his first customer on South Street was a mile from his home. His last customer was Laurie "The Blind Mechanic" Rego, who played Sweet Georgia Brown on the piano each day for Lee, who never outgrew his love for traditional music. Lee served as Mr.Helmich Boosenkool's "yardboy" at Wheaton Farm for several years. There he learned organic gardening techniques that he followed over his lifetime. A family friend, Mr. Edward Milano got Lee a job at Harco Orchards and Poultry Farm and he worked there for the next three years. Pay was seventy-five cents an hour and during non-school days it was a fifty-four hour work week. When school was in session he worked only 28 hours a week. He paid board at home of five dollars a week. He had been buying all his clothes from the age of twelve. When he decided to get a car at age fifteen and a half, his dad told him he'd keep the board at five dollars, but if Lee bought a car the fee went to ten dollars. Lee bought the 1939 Ford Standard Coupe from Dick Hanscom for seventy five dollars and paid the ten dollar toll. He got his driver's license the week after he turned sixteen. Peanuts was the name of the old horse that pulled the water wagon through the chicken yards at Harco. Lee was dressed in cut off dungarees and a straw hat. No shoes needed, except the time Peanuts stepped on his big toe and disfigured it for life. Brown as a berry, he paid the price at dermatologists for many years after for the excess sun exposure he took. To entertain the other farmhands at lunchtime, Lee would do ten handsprings in a row. He was five foot eleven and weighed one hundred and forty five pounds. When Lee graduated from OAHS in 1953 he had $3,200 in the bank. A small fortune for that time. With no other plans upon graduating from Oliver Ames High School in 1953 Lee told his dad he'd like to try going to Bridgewater State Teachers College. Avery, Sr. told Lee that he had had no schooling beyond the tenth year and saw no need for Lee to go on with his education. He told Lee that if he did not go to college, he'd keep the board at ten dollars, otherwise the rate would go to fifteen. Lee graduated from Bridgewater State in 1957 majoring in English and minoring in French. While going to college he worked in kitchens as a second (line) cook at Howard Johnson's, the Merrimacs Restaurant, Sylvia Sweets and three summers at the Hampton Beach Casino Restaurant in New Hampshire. In July of '57 came his draft notice. Lee decided to join the U S Air Force and become a pilot. He failed the eye tests, but was encouraged to try again as a navigator – he who could not find his way from Easton to Whitman! It was good luck for America that he failed the visual test again and joined the National Guard, where he could do less harm. He served six months on active duty, trained as a Company Clerk, served as a Company Cook (standard for the Army) and later was allowed to be Commander of Easton's Post 7 American Legion on such flimsy military service. During his Army basic training he met a fellow serviceman whose father worked in Wall Street. Lee, who did not take a drink of alcoholic beverage until age 26, spent his spare time on base at the library reading up on investments. Once in a poker game in the barracks at Fort Dix, Lee holding a hidden full house in pot limit seven card stud bet whatever was in the pot. A fellow dog face named Whelan with a high straight wanted to call so badly he could taste it, but had no cash to cover the bet. Lee asked him "what might you have of value to put into the pot" – Whelan said "wait right here" and headed for his foot locker. He came back with a 32 automatic pistol (unloaded) and put it on the pile of cash. When Lee got home with the gun his mother, Margaret (nee Adams) was apoplectic. She hid the weapon until Lee went to his dentist, Dr. Walter Chisholm. He traded the pistol for two fillings that went with him in his casket. After discharge from the Army, Lee went to New York City to work in Brooklyn as an accounts clerk. After six months he landed a job in Wall Street as a Specialists Broker's clerk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He attended the New York Institute of Finance evenings and talked his boss into getting him licensed as a "Customer's Man", later known as a stock broker with Hemphill Noyes & Co. That made it January 1st of 1960. He returned to his hometown of Easton, joined the Jaycees, became local and State President and became involved in Easton's government and civic affairs. His resume' shows a multitude of activities in which he took part. Along with "Ole McDonald" Lee had a farm on Beatty Lane and there he raised all the family's beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and rabbits for meat. Of course, milking Jersey cows and goats, gathering eggs and honey from bees were standard fare. He taught classes and lectured on organic gardening and subsistence living and was a frequent speaker on farm related topics at many civic organizations. Youngsters in the neighborhood came by to "work" on the farm and all were taught to say "sir" to the men,"M'am" to the ladies and "please and thank you" to all. Sheep Pasture did not have its programs running at this time, so school classes and groups including the Massachusetts Horticultural Society did regular tours of the mini-farm. Lee led an Organic 4H Organic Garden Club for six years. When a person needed a guest speaker on a moment's notice a call to Lee would bring him to your club, church, synagogue or school to speak on any of several topics from population stabilization to organic gardening to stock market trends. He could (and did on one occasion) speak for an hour from totally memorized poetry, toasts and sayings. In the last fifty years Avery Lee Williams was into just about anything that went on in Easton of any consequence. He wrote this obituary to let all know that they are not to have any regrets at his passing (nor gloat over the fact that he is gone), but just know that he enjoyed life to the fullest and will miss all his family and friends. He has put the words "I told you I was sick" on his grave stone at the South Easton Cemetery. Maybe that will induce somebody to drop by and chuckle a bit at the whimsy. Williams is survived by his beautiful wife of 57 years, Elizabeth C. "Betty" Williams, his son, Kevin and daughter-in-law Hala, Grandson Nick and Granddaughter Nora Yousif and his Grandnephew Doumit Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a graveside service on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 10:15 a.m. in South Easton Cemetery, Washington Street (Rte.138) Easton. In lieu of flowers, please make donations in his memory to the fund he established for his beloved Town of Easton for a grand 300 year anniversary in 2025. Checks can be made payable to the Town of Easton with the notation "300th celebration fund" written on the miscellaneous line and may be sent to the Town Treasurer; 136 Elm Street; Easton, MA 02356 Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there I do not sleep I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the autumn's gentle rain When you awaken the morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight, I am the soft star that shines at night. Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not dead, I did not die.