Frederick L. "Rick" Williams

I am so saddened to find that Dr. Williams has left the world. I took his mythology course my freshman year of undergrad and joined the honors program so that I could take more classes with him. He was one of the best and most memorable professors of my academic career, and even now, 15 years after graduation I can still hear his advice about running off to join the circus and cannot hear Delta Dawn without thinking about Electra. My friends and I baked him a Parthenon cake for his...

I have been looking for Rick for years and I now found him. This makes me so very sad. Rick was my father's cousin ...my Father is Thomas Kemper Ahrens. My grandmother and Rick's Mother were sisters. He was very special to me when I was a little girl. I remember visiting Aunt Jean and Uncle Fred and Rick was home from College and was in the middle of writing his thesis...as a small child ..seeing a book that thick...holy moly. I am so very sorry that I wasn't able to see him again. ...

I worked with Rick in the language department at SIU and he was the director of the Honors Program when I introduced a new Honors course which he enthusiastically supported. I had heard so much about how great his lectures were so I attended one of them and it happened to be about Oedipus Rex. He captivated all the many students in the lecture hall and me as well with his dynamic, humorous, and theatrical presentation. He was one of a kind and will be sorely missed by many.

My heart goes out to all who knew, and therefore admired, Rick. We were both graduate students at Cornell University: he in Classics; I, in American literature. His commitment to the life of the mind was everwhere conspicuous, as was his wit, often emerging from insights into human nature. Those were excellent years, at Cornell, made all the more memorable by the unique intellect and personality of Rick Williams. Jim Duban

We are saddened by Rick's death - we have many, many good memories of our years together as colleagues and friends in Carbondale and know how much he brought to Foreign Languages and to SIUC. Our sympathies to Brigette - please know we have Rick in our thoughts.

I had the pleasure of Dr. Williams instruction at SIU. First for Mythology, where he kept the entire packed lecture hall in rapt attention with his dramatic presentations. I then joined the Honors Program and took three more courses on Greek classic literature. I very much enjoyed his calm, cowboy demeanour and sharp sense of humour. A keen editor, he would literally wriggle his fingers and lick his chops before diving into my papers -trusty red pencil in hand. A field trip to The...

Professor Williams taught me that it was important to balance life and education. As a student in his Honors Program Course, I spoke with him about missing a class to spend time with my father celebrating his birthday. He enthusiastically told me that it was a "No brainer" and told me I could catch up on the class the next day. I´ve never forgotten him and hope that I convey his sentiments of work life balance to my students and colleagues.

I took Mythology with Professor Williams and loved the class. His style of teaching greatly influenced my own...I tried to mimic his passion with every piece of literature I taught. I even wore cowboy boots to drag them across the floor for emphasis. His lectures were always inspiring for the content at hand and the method of his delivery. He is one of those teachers that continues to live through his teaching.