Peter Williamson

He was born in Fort Benning, GA to Colonel John Williamson and Alice McAniff Williamson. Being the son of a career military officer, he lived in sixteen places, attending seven grade schools and two high schools, before the age of 18. At the encouragement of his parents, he followed in his father’s footsteps and attended West Point, completing two years before concluding that military life was not for him. Pete transferred to American University, graduated with a degree in physics and joined Hayes Aircraft in Birmingham, AL.

He later decided to explore the west coast, so he jumped in his MG, drove to Seattle, WA and started his career with IBM. Soon after, IBM sent him to a class in Dallas, TX where he met his classmate, Margaret Chandler, and after six short weeks, they were engaged. They married six months later at Margaret’s parents’ home in Larchmont, NY.

During his thirty years as a systems engineer with IBM, they lived in Olympia, WA; Washington, DC; Tokyo, Japan; Houston, TX; Potomac, MD and Wilton, CT. Their time in Japan was a milestone for the family since they arrived in Tokyo with their six-week-old daughter, Karen, and left when their second daughter, Nancy, was six months old. Over the course of his IBM career, Pete worked on state and federal contracts, including US military installations in Japan during the Vietnam War; technical support with education centers; and IBM support on Catia with Dassault Systems. His daughters summarize those years as ranging from visiting massive, room-sized mainframes where they were given discarded punch cards to color on to him bringing home an early personal computer when they were in high school.

After retiring in 1993, Pete enjoyed cycling and the challenge of the winding roads of Fairfield County, CT. He also volunteered as an EMT with the Wilton Ambulance Corps. In 1998, they moved to Williamsburg, VA where he continued to enjoy cycling, averaging 5,000 miles per year. He served on the Governor’s Land Foundation Board and volunteered with Men’s Charity Tennis in support of Hospice House of Williamsburg.

He was preceded in death by his brothers, John and Michael, and his sons-in-law, Rich Dickason and Michael Connelly.

He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Margaret; two daughters, Karen (John) Rickert and Nancy Dickason Connelly; six grandchildren, Daniel (Kelly) Rickert, Matthew (Fatimah) Rickert, Elizabeth Rickert, Richard Dickason III, William Dickason and Bennett Connelly; one great-grandchild, Genevieve Rickert; his sister, Kathleen (Ward) Barmon and his sisters-in law, Hayden and Linda.

There will be a gathering of family and friends at a future date.

Memorial contributions in Pete’s honor and memory may be made to Hospice House of Williamsburg, 4445 Powhatan Parkway, Williamsburg, Virginia 23188.