Thomas Williams Jr.

WILLIAMS, The Honorable Thomas Aloysius Jr., died, October 25, 2010. He was born August 26, 1916 in Richmond, Virginia to Thomas A. Williams Sr. and Ethel Margaret Johann. After graduating from Benedictine High School, he entered Washington & Lee University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree followed by his LLB in 1939. In 1941, he married Dorothy Sampson of Savannah, Georgia. They were married until her death in 2004. He served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific from 1943 to 1945, and later served in the Naval Reserve from 1954 to 1976, retiring as Lt. Cmdr. He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1939, and in 1966 was appointed Judge of the Richmond, and later Virginia, General District Court. He served on the bench until his retirement in 1981. After his retirement from the bench, Judge Williams was a proud volunteer at Bon Secours /St. Mary's Hospital. Other interests included playing golf and building furniture, often from his own designs. He was preceded in death by this wife, Dorothy Sampson Williams; brothers, Ernest J., Gordon P. and Robert F. Williams. He is survived by daughters, Sandra Williams Owings Goode and husband, David, Susan Williams Owen and husband, W.B., Johanna Williams; son, Thomas A. Williams III; and by his brother, John Richard "Jack"; and sister, Barbara Elizabeth "Bettie" Bradley and her husband, George. He is also survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, October 29, 2010, in Hollywood Cemetery.


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.