He was always called Bill. He died peacefully on February 13, 2020 in Reston, VA, after a 10-month battle with cancer. He was 85 years old. At the end he said, “I want to go to Mother Nature”.
Born in Upper Montclair, NJ on November 20, 1934, his parents were Langdon and Svea Wikstrom Williams. Bill graduated from Montclair High School in 1952, and attended Upsala College for several years. Then, he joined the US Army and served in Germany. After his Army discharge, he joined the Peace Corps in 1963. In India, he taught poultry development to farmers in Ajmer, Rajasthan. There he made life-long friends.
In 1967 Bill joined the US Agency for International Development. He was Assistant Provincial Representative in South Vietnam, helping to improve the quality of life for the Vietnamese people, during the war. Returning to the States, he attended Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree. Then he worked for the US Department of Agriculture, concentrating on the national school lunch program. During that time, he passed the Foreign Service exam and was employed by the US Department of State. Bill worked in Washington, DC until he was assigned to the embassy in Jamaica. Next he was assigned to the embassy in Guyana, where he met his future wife, Jean Waldron. They were married in 1989, and two years later they moved with Jean’s four children to Reston, VA. He was a loving and caring husband, and a wonderful father to her children and grandchildren.
Bill is survived by his wife, Jean W. Williams, of Reston; stepchildren, Gloria Jones of Reston; Joel Meyers of Reston; Abiola Henry of East Stroudsburg, PA; Patrick Britton of Ashburn, VA; 12 grandchildren; his sister, Betty (Billi) Gosh and her husband Bobby of Brookfield, VT; his niece, Kristina Gosh and her husband Matthew Thomas of Chicago, IL; and nephew Erik Gosh and his wife Martha of Ipswich, MA; two grandnephews and a grandniece.
Services will be held at a later date. Donations in his memory may be made to www.donate.doctorswithoutborders.org.
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