John C. Williams

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow the death January 30, 2000 of retiree John C. Williams of East Falmouth, Mass. He was 77.

John Charles Williams was born October 27, 1922 in Dix, Illinois, and attended Centralia Township High School in Centralia, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he worked as race jockey for Calumet Farms and raced horses all over the United States.

In 1942, he joined the Army and participated in the invasions of Italy and Sicily.  After the war, he worked as a civilian radio repairman for two years in Okinawa.

After returning to the United Sates, he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago to study electrical engineering. He then attended Mexico City College, where he studied anthropology, from 1948 to 1950.

John began a long career in the Air Force in 1950, retiring the first time in 1971. He worked briefly in estate maintenance before serving a second time in the Air Force from 1972 to 1977, this time stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. He held the rank of Chief Master Sergeant before his retirement in 1977.

John began working at WHOI in April 1979 as a security guard with Ron Craft and retired in July 1993 after more than 14 years of service.

A member of the Falmouth Elks, he was a former member of the Falmouth Veterans of Foreign Wars and Falmouth Rod and Gun.

He is survived by his wife Louise (Tropansky) Williams, three sons, James A. Williams of Black Diamond, WA; John C. Williams of Tucson, AZ; and David A. Williams of East Falmouth, Mass; three daughters, Deborah L. Jones of Belair, WA; Ramona Hyde of Tucson, AZ; and Valerie Saffron of East Falmouth, Mass; two sisters, Irma Lucille Wells of Salem, IL; and Margaret Ehera of Tucson, AZ; a brother, Darrell Williams of Litchfield, IL; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was held at noon, March 4, in the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 475 Main Street, Falmouth, Mass.  Burial was private.

Memorial donations may be made to the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, Mass., 02178-9896.