James Stewart Williams TSSF

WILLIAMS, JAMES STEWART, TSSF, (3rd order of the Society of St. Francis) was born in Louisville on Saturday, April 28, 1928 and was born to eternal life on Saturday, November 30, 2013 due to injuries sustained in an accident on Taylorsville Road on Friday night.

Williams joined the US Navy after high school graduation, served two and one-half years on the destroyer, USS JOHN A. BOLE (DD755). His ship was on picket duty around Okinawa where he was a survivor. Williams attended the University of Louisville where he was awarded a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degrees. He also earned a Master of Art degree in library and research from Spalding University.
As a student of the University of Louisville, he sang with the madrigal group and sang an opera role with Moritz Bombard's Opera Company, the Lyric Stage that toured the mid-west. He sang in two groups at WHAS under Mr. Edward Barrett's direction, Music Under the Stars, and in a quartet weekly program of religious hymns. Williams was the choral director at Corydon (IN) Central High School and for 10 years at Seneca High School, Louisville.
Mr. Williams was employed by the Department of Defense, Dependent School for 30 years, as a choral director in high schools in Italy, Turkey, and Germany. While in Germany he directed the concerts in Germany: Wiesbaden, West Berlin, Frankfurt, Bad Nauheim, Bacharach on the Rhine, the Russellheim Opera House, and Wiesbaden Concert Hall. In Naples, Williams had a music and vocal studio.
Williams conducted Handel's Messiah, sang the bass solos, conducting a chorus composed of his Forrest Sherman High School choir, singers and instrumentalist of the Italian and American community with members of San Carlo Opera House Orchestra. The occasion was the dedication of the Italian church, San Guiseppe of Naples. He is the first American musician to do so.
Williams belonged to the German International Hiking and Running Club for 19 years, hiking over 7500 miles and finishing 22 marathons, one of which is the notable, Venice Marathon.
The organizations to which Williams belonged were the European Province of the Third Order of Saint Frances, where he was professed in the Anglican Church of St. Augustine in Wiesbaden. In Vicenza, Italy, Williams became a Master Mason, the ceremony held in Italian Lodge of Verona. Later became a Shriner of Moslah Lodge of Fort Worth, Texas, and a member of the Scottish Rite.
Williams published his memoirs, Echoes: Remembering Friends, Music and Places, Europe and Asia, 1969-2005 available in Louisville Free Public Library..
He is survived by his sister, Rose Marie Fischer (Carl).
Mr. Williams was a lifetime member of the Church of the Advent Episcopal Church, 901 Baxter Ave. His funeral is there at 11a.m. Thursday. Burial is in Resthaven Memorial Park. Visitation is 3-7 p.m. Wednesday at Fern Creek Funeral Home, 5406 Bardstown Road. Memorial gifts to his church.