John Williams

1952 - 2023

John Williams

Naples ME - John Harold Williams died peacefully Sunday afternoon April 16, 2023, surrounded by his loving family.

Who was John Williams?

John was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on February 25, 1952, to Joy and Joseph Williams. He was their second son and was named after his maternal grandfather, John Harold Schell. At the time of his birth, his father was working as a pilot for the governor of Pennsylvania and his mother was working as an Air Traffic Controller for the FAA. At this time the Williams family, including his older brother Joe, were living in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. However, both parents were on tight work schedules, and John spent some of his first year in the care of his beloved grandmother, Christine Williams (née Merrigan), and aunt, Dorothy Williams in Peckville, Pennsylvania. As a result, he always felt a special closeness to both women.

When John was four years old, an unfortunate event struck the young Williams family. His father developed diabetes, which meant that his father could no longer fly. His father, wanting to stay in the aviation industry, took a job as the Manager of Lancaster Airport. The family moved to Blossom Hill in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and this is where John spent his early childhood and teenage years. The Blossom Hill neighborhood was filled with young families and John made several lifelong friends there. John also gained a second sibling during these years with the birth of his younger sister.

John loved growing up on Blossom Hill, it was an environment ripe for a developing, curious mind. There were many exploits from these times, but an off-told family story happened the year that John and his brother Joe got a chemistry set for Christmas. The boys decided to use the kit to make gunpowder, which they stored in the basement of the family's home. Their father was not happy when he found their stash!

His high school years saw John develop many of his lifelong passions and pursuits. His passion for science and math gave him the opportunity to learn computer programming techniques when his physics class gained access to the local college's computer systems. He developed his passion for sports on the soccer and tennis teams and especially for downhill skiing, through the ski club that he and his friends established. Outside of school, he developed a passion for filmmaking. He often took his movie camera to Hill Climb Races, to capture the action of cars racing for the best time up steep, winding roads. His favorite films captured his friends or himself on steep ski runs and moguls. During these years, he also worked for his father at the Lancaster airport. The job gave him experience driving all sorts of vehicles, learning to problem solve to keep the airport operating efficiently, and watching his father, who would later become his role model for dealing with people at work.

When it was time to head to college, John chose to go to Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan. Michigan Tech had the two things he was most passionate about at 18 – an emerging computer programming degree, and a college run ski area. Michigan Tech was a good fit for John. Here he developed his skills in programming and on the ski slope. He also picked up the guitar, which also became a lifelong passion and gave him some solace during his long illness.

After he completed his degree, John moved to New Hampshire for his first full-time programming job. He joined a company in Manchester, NH, that was developing computer software and hardware to support the newspaper industry. He enjoyed the job, but eventually left to take a job with the UNIX Group at Digital Equipment Corporation in Merrimack, NH. The year John joined the UNIX group, Digital's success was still tied to its proprietary operating systems, but John recognized the growing market for a UNIX-based product and believed the company would eventually move in that direction, which is why he joined the group.

John was an active person and always had close friends. However, through the years as his passion for skiing grew, he decided he would only seriously date women who skied. His family was convinced that he would spend his life as a bachelor. That all changed in 1991, when a young woman named Margaret (Meg) Dumont joined the Unix group. John first noticed her during a series of process improvement meetings, which they both attended. He liked how she listened to the engineers in the room. He would often stop her in the halls to chat. Finally, one day he was talking to her about the powder he had skied on a recent ski trip out West, and she said to him, "I like ice." In those words, he knew he finally met a woman who met his first requirement for a partner – she was a skier. He spent the next few months figuring out how to get her to join him on the slopes. He did of course and as their wedding invitation said two years later, "A glance, a smile, and a good ski run became a friendship and grew into love…"

Once they settled into the routine of being a couple, they decided a child would make them a family. They had a son in the fall of 1996. John was an involved father - volunteering as a coach, working on school projects, and discussing topics of all kinds with his young son. John was always there to lend a hand or give a piece of advice. John was so proud of his son.

Family life was good for John. It saw him through the merger of Digital into Compaq and then Compaq into HP. John retired from HP in the spring of 2010 and was offered a job teaching physics at The Well School in Peterborough, New Hampshire (where Meg was also teaching). John loved teaching at The Well School. He enjoyed getting to know the students and working to inspire them to love science and math. John retired from teaching in 2017.

During most of their marriage, John and Meg lived in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire. After retirement, John and Meg decided it was time to move closer to Meg's family in Maine. They chose Naples, the house just felt right, and most importantly it had a shop big enough to house all John's woodworking tools, which was a must. They moved to Naples in the fall of 2018.

Over the next year and a half, they enjoyed the activities of retirement. In March of 2020 the COVID pandemic shutdown all normal activities. One of the last things John did before the shutdown was to go skiing with Meg, and her brother and sister-in-law at Sugarloaf in Kingfield, Me. It was fortuitous as this would be the last time they skied together. It was during the lockdown that John started to notice a severe weakness in his legs. While it took another year before he was diagnosed with ALS, the disease was progressing through his body. The next couple of years was a constant battle to keep up with the changes in his body. He lost his battle with the disease on April 16, 2023.

Who was John Williams – he was kind, generous, and curious. He loved a glass of wine, paired with good food and deep conversation. He always had a project going and enjoyed solving difficult problems of any kind. He always had an idea of how to make things better. His guidance and expertise on so many topics will be sorely missed.

John is survived by his loving wife of 29 years Margaret Williams (née Dumont) of Naples, Maine and their son Skye J. Williams of Troy, New York.

John is predeceased by his beloved father Joseph Williams and mother Joy Williams (née Schell).

His surviving siblings are Joseph A. Williams and his wife Hao Williams (née Nguyen) of Cary, NC, Janice C. Armstrong (née Williams) and her husband Thomas E. Armstrong II of Marietta, PA. He is also survived by his much-loved Dumont family and his numerous nieces and nephews from both families. He will be missed by both his friends and family.

Meg and Skye would like to thank all the family and friends for their constant and much needed support through this journey. We would also like to thank the ALS Care Team led by Doctor John Taylor from Mid-Coast hospital and the Home Care and Hospice Care nurses and aides from Androscoggin Home Health and Hospice for the care and support of John and Meg.

A small Memorial Service is planned for June 10, 2023. As the venue can only accommodate a small group, the services will be live streamed with details to follow. We ask that folks meet at the family's residence in Naples after the service at 11:30 am to celebrate John's life with good wine, food, and conversation.

Arrangements are in the care of the Hall Funeral Home, 165 Quaker Ridge Road, Casco, ME. www.hallfuneralhome.net.