Gene Williams
MAGNOLIA, DE- Gene D. Williams, age 84 of Magnolia, DE, died September 27, 2024. He was born in Forest Lake, Michigan, on October 11, 1939, to the late Richard Joseph and Ethel Marie (Shepley) Williams. He was the great-great grandson of Abraham Warren and Anna Marie (VanDyke) Williams, the first white settler in the Munising, MI, area.
He was a 1958 graduate of Eben High School, Eben Junction, Michigan. Following high school, he worked in his father’s Williams Grocery in Chatham, MI. In September 1959, he joined the United States Air Force and retired as a Master Sergeant in October 1979. His second career was with Penn Mutual Insurance Company of West Chester, PA, where he was employed as an insurance adjuster and later as a marketing representative. His second retirement was in May 1999, after which he was a volunteer with the restoration crew of the air Mobility Command Museum of Dover Air Force Base. He was a past president of the Caesar Rodney Band Parents. He was also a past president of the Sparks Club, an organization of independent insurance companies, and a member of Delmarva Insurance Adjusters Association.
He is survived by his wife, Sarah B. “Sally” (Bowler-Evans) Williams, of Magnolia, whom he married September 3, 1988; daughters of his first marriage to Marcia J. (Newell) Powers – Bonnie J. Williams and her spouse Lynn Howell of Montana and Monica J. Williams of Delaware; and his step-daughter, Deborah M. Evans and her spouse Thomas A. Watkins of Virginia; his brother Royce T. Williams of Munising, MI; a granddaughter, Taylor M. (Brake) Lewis and her spouse Christopher of Florida; several nieces and nephews; and several grandnieces and grandnephews.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, R. Wayne Williams of Lansing, MI, and Bruce R. Williams of Brevard, NC.
A memorial service will be held 11:00 A.M. Saturday October 5, 2024 at the Pippin Funeral Home, 119 W. Camden Wyoming Avenue, Wyoming, DE 19934 where friends may visit with the family from 10:00 A.M until 11:00 A.M. Saturday. Interment will follow at Barratt’s Chapel Cemetery in Frederica, DE.
In lieu of floral tributes, donations can be made to the AMC Museum Foundation, Inc., 1301 Heritage Road, Dover, DE 19902, or to the Alger County Historical Society, 1496 Washington Street, Munising, MI 49862. Online condolences may be made via www.pippinfuneralhome.com.