William Haney "Will (Willie)" McWilliams

Will was one of a kind. I enjoyed his company very much. He was always friendly and quite unique. I am sad that I never realized what a truly great person he was. He was super successful in his work but he fully enjoyed his many hobbies: kayaking, painting, gardening, his dogs, his family, ships, his friends, walking, just to name a few. Will is gone too soon but he enjoyed his life every day! It is as if he lived 100years but fit it into 69 years.

Will was a very enthusiastic, happy entertaining, kind of guy. I really enjoyed playing music the blues with him and Peter Torrey in my basement, I had a four track recorder and I recorded some of our sessions and Will took the masters and made copies, including labels for everyone. I still have them always well thanks Will miss you. What a great guy.!

For Will and all who enjoyed his presence, Will I finally have several butternut seedlings that I intend to plant this coming autumn. I planted a seedling back in 1997 and have been collecting the first major seed crop in 2024, it is now June 2025 and they have spouted and can be transplanted this October/November. Dude, you live on not just as a memory but as a supervisor!

I was saddened to learn of Will's passing through a notice in The Forestry Source (Society of American Foresters). I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Will in the FIA program, even though we were on different ends of the country. Will was always welcoming, helpful, and respectful; I'm not surprised he was given a Hero's award for supporting women and minorities in forestry. Rest in peace, friend. You will be remembered.

I´m so very sad to hear of Will´s passing. We were young Foresters together in the long ago days of the Forest service. Will was always supportive, positive, and such an interesting person. I´m sad to know he´s gone but am sure he is making things interesting still everywhere he is. RIP,Will. Mary Beth Adams

I was saddened to hear of Will´s passing tonight. I read about it in the Forestry Source (SAF). I worked with Will in Starkville, MS with the FIA group in 1988-1989. He was always pleasant to work with and a very sharp Research Forester. May he Rest in Peace!!

In 1999, as the brand new Maine Forest Service Biometrician, Will was one of my main contacts at the Northeast FIA Unit, and remained so until my retirement in 2018. He was very supportive in recognizing Maine´s unique needs in publishing FIA data and reports. One great road trip started in Orono with a FIA Users group meeting, the same the next day in Portland, and then onto Sturbridge, MA for a regional FIA Conference.
With his support, I also was able to serve as a co-author on a couple of publications.
We always enjoyed each other in our professional engagements.
My belated condolences to the McWilliams family, as I also lost a friend and a great forestry colleague.

Sorry to hear of Will´s passing. Worked on many projects with him and enjoyed his research focus. He was a great forester! Heartfelt condolences, Andy Malmquist

Dear Kathy and family, I am deeply sorry to hear about your loss. Though I never had the opportunity to meet Will, it´s clear that he was a remarkable person with a super impact on those around him, both professionally and personally. His dedication to forestry, his impressive scientific contributions & papers, his numerous talents &hobbies paint a picture of a truly inspiring individual. Please accept my condolences.

I feel such a sense of loss at Will's passing. Even though I had seen Will only a few times after 2008, Will has a such a large presence in my memory. He was " A man in full" in the best perception of that phrase. It was always a pleasure to work with him. I had the honor to review some of his research, which invariably focused on important forestry topics. When we traveled to meetings, he reveled in driving the most scenic routes, while carrying on the most engaging conversation. I met him unexpectedly in the Swarthmore coop, as he was selling his hot sauce. He was speaking in a Jamaican accent and enjoying the moment as only Will could. What a hoot..!! I was lucky to have seen his art work and photography. He was proud of his gardening and landscaping...and the fact that he had a mature woods behind his house. I was honored to have met his beloved wife, Kathy. My sympathy to her and the family.

Dear Kathy,
My heart is breaking for you and the loss of Will. My brother Peter loved him so very much. After Peter´s death Will composed an amazing poem, framed it and sent it to me. I cherish it and read it often.
My love and prayers are for you and your family
Debby Torrey Meltz

My sincere condolences to McWilliams family. I never met Will but had the fortune of working with his wife, Kathy on one of the National Institutes of Health funded trials. My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

My deepest condolences to McWilliams family. While I never met Will but worked very closely with Kathy (his wife) on one of the National Institutes of Health Trials. My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time.

I was so saddened to hear of Will's passing and my thoughts are with you all. Will was such a huge part of our Northeastern and then Northern Forest Inventory and Analysis unit. I remember so many passionate conversations about forestry, the inventory data, and what needed to be explored next. These were so valuable to me as a new employee who had a lot to learn about FIA. His projects were some of the very first I contributed to when I joined FIA in 1992 and I remember those early applications of spatial analysis in the Allegheny mountains very fondly. His commitment to the topic and problem of natural forest regeneration and how to better inventory it was note-worthy and is something we are still reaping the benefits of.
Although I never interacted with Will outside the office, he always seemed to me to be such a full and happy person, with so many other interests and skills and things he was involved in. I've always remembered his story of how wonderful having a Jack Russell terrier in the house was and how useful a parenting device -- if the kids were arguing together in the other room, all he had to do was open up the door for a minute and send the dog in and immediately all the kids' attention would turn away from what they were arguing about to play with the dog.

Will was such a presence - joyful, passionate and caring. I'm thankful I knew him.

Rest in peace Will. Briefly meeting a few times in person at work, Will left an impression on me to last a lifetime. An amazing guy

Will had such an amazing on impact on my life and my career. It's hard for me to imagine his energy being gone from the McWilliams family. My thoughts are with you all you as you adjust, but our memories of him will last forever.

He hired me into my first permanent job with the Forest Service which was clearly a huge milestone, but even more than that he was a great mentor and friend. Early in my career we traveled to Yellowstone together to meet with other forest inventory analysts from across the country. The attached photo (2005) is from when we got off the plane in Jackson. We were so excited to start driving into the Tetons!

Over the next 15 years Will passed on so much wisdom, energy, and most importantly care, to people across the Forest Service. He even shared his secret hot sauce recipe with me which I still use to this day! I was looking forward to exchanging habanero and hot sauce pictures with him again this summer. Will you will be missed so incredibly much!

I'm so very sorry to hear that Will passed away. He was such a happy, kind, man. Prayers to his family.

Will was a great USFS coworker and forest inventory mentor. One of our memorable conversations was in the waiting area of the Philly airport for a flight to Bangor, Maine. We got so involved talking about forestry and music that we missed our flight and had to reschedule. Thanks for sharing your life, Will!

Will was a great person with a big heart. He was my first supervisor when I came to FIA and I credit a lot of what I was able to accomplish to him. I remember him often saying that his role as supervisor was to take bullets for the folks he supervised and then stay out of their way. I also remember him saying that one had to perform at a given level for some time before being recognized at the level. While he was specifically talking about being a Forest Service scientist, I have taken that advice, as with much of what he said, into all parts of my life

And Will could also be quite quirky, but the thoughts of him acting like a fool puts a smile on my face and tears in my eyes. He will be greatly missed! Rest in peace Will!

Will was a very enthusiastic scientist and friend. My best memory was a Forest Health Meeting in New Orleans during Marti Gra . We were positioned in front of a bar watching the festivities. It was cold and raining so we would duck into the bar which had an open bar to celebrate a 1967 Class Reunion of a local high school. I graduated in 1967 from Omaha Burke H.S. So I would grab a beer to celebrate too! At some point the sponsor saw me and was not familiar with me and ask questions about the 1967 Class, I would recount my experiences in Omaha and the sponsor would confirm that he remembered that particular experience until eventually he realized that he was not sure of the "story" , that is when I confessed and the fellow said that I was okay and we celebrated together for the entire 1967 classes across America. Will was amazed at the invite and joined in! We were cold but wetted our thirst and celebrated with the Locals and recounted many High School share experiences, it was great fun and Will was unleashed along with me!! It is a fond memory of Will and his love of people and life wherever he happened to be. He is and will always be apart of my journey across America. Thanks Will you are a friend forever . (Thomas Hall)

My sympathies to Kathy and family. Will was a great guy and leader. I still have great memories from the 1980s when Will spent two weeks shadowing me as supervisor of the Old Southeastern Forest Experiment Station FIA field crews. From plots, check cruises, logging operation studies, and later joint publication and presentation together, all time spent around Will was enjoyable and even fun. Rest in peace Will.

Will and Kathy arrived at Southern Station and Starkville MS just as Inventory was moving from New Orleans to MS. He and family were bright cheerful lights in a rather down place. We remember him fondly after all these years in different ecosystems. Charlie and Jeannine Thomas Cascabel, AZ

I am so sorry to hear of Will's passing. He was one of the first people I worked with in FIA, and he had a big impact on my career. He was a truly nice person.

I will always remember Will as one of our Swarthmore Football Team. He was a great player & one of my favs. A great classmate & nice guy. I so enjoyed reconnecting at our Class Reunion & fb chats Praying for your family & God's peace.

Blessings asked for healing hearts and memories remembered. You will surely be missed. Rest in Peace!

Will was always a happy guy in high school! His red hair was seen from a distance. Such a good manner. The last time I spoke to him was at our 50th high school class reunion2 years ago. His paintings were remarkable. Always such a pleasant person. Kathy, you and your family are in my thoughts at this difficult time

Will was my cousin and lived near me for about three years. So much fun to be with. We played softball on a field near me and he hit a ball so hard it almost hit a window in a house in far left field. And we ran a 5K together at the Goose Day celebration in Lewistown, Pa., where with a late minute push he beat my wife, who considered herself a great runner. We had an uncle Porter McWilliams who was in State College for some forestry event and was supposed to call us and ended up in the emergency room and while waiting for the call that never came consumed a case of pounders, and his wonderful wife Kathy did her part. I knew Will's father and mother, and thought his father one of the kindest men I had ever met. Still remember those luminous McWilliams brown eyes. Enjoyed Will's shipping news on his Facebook posts and his enthusiasm for Darby Creek, which I remember as little above a sewer!! And what a family he raised! Did not one of his daughters on some kind of trip sleep near baboons? And another a Harvard graduate! Us McWilliams could only apply for a janitor's job at Harvard. But in his Facebook posts one thing came across every day: his love for K, who is Kathy, and she is a great person also!!

Dear Win, I'm very sorry for the loss of your brother-in-law, Will. Keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. Rosemary

I had the great pleasure of coaching Hilary, the daughter of Will & Kathy when she was in 2nd/3rd grade. I still hold vivid memories of her play and her parents rich joy in the soccer team's seasons. Having known Kathy as a neighbor and Will as a schoolmate in Swarthmore, I've always known their family and friendships to be full of that joy and the wonder of life, that Will epitomized.

My memories of Willie are many, but he won my heart by showing up at our home on a Saturday morning just to say "Howdy." That´s how life was in my late teens and twenties and Willie in his forties and fifties was as joyful and spontaneous as we were!
The photo of him truly captures his humor and joy. There will always be a special happy place in my heart for Willie McWilliams!

My most impressive memory What is his constant good-natured fun loving very creative and talented friend and of course willies in Kathy´s court ship early On school, M playing blues with him!

My most impressive memory What is his constant good-natured fun loving very creative and talented friend and of course willies in Kathy´s court ship early On school, M playing blues with him!