Henry Williams

It was a warm sunny Fall day in Savannah on the 27th of September that the Williams family was blessed with a healthy baby boy who would become the first born child of Cressie and Henry Williams Sr. (Cressie a pretty young Jamaican girl enamored by a mature handsome Southern boy gave the world a man who lived a life that any parent would be proud off.)

Henry affectionately know as Hank, was their only child spent the first six years of his life with a nurturing grandmother he became the apple of her eye. When grandma Williams passed, Henry went to Harlem, New York to live with his two maiden Aunts, Lillian and Rebecca who were entrepreneurs during the Harlem Renaissance. He was sent to Catholic school where he learned all about self-discipline, hard work, and corporal punishment. Henry was a sharp dresser, a natural athlete, a good cook, a consummate perfectionist, and a good catch.

His first job was in the Booker Funeral Home on 128th Street, directly across the street from his home. Which meant he was always late for work. The Director graciously offered to mentor him in this profession, but he did not feel that was a career he could live with. Henry was a dreamer and had a vision of becoming a millionaire and never gave up his dream.

At 19 he met Lucille Lieujentia at Claridge Hosiery on 125th Street and swept her off her I Miller shoes. Henry had impeccable table manners, thanks to his maiden aunts and on their first date he ate chicken with a knife & fork. That was the proposal. He could also clean a spare rib with a knife and fork. Lucille and Henry married in 1948 at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church right out of High School. Unbenounced to most Americans at the time they birth the first President Obama supporter (Lauren). They postponed their Honeymoon until 1955 and went to Niagara Falls in Canada, their first time leaving the US. Over the next five decades they took many memorable trips. The newlyweds lived at 206 West 121st Street with Lucille’s mother Laura, who loved Henry as her own son and his love was reciprocal. In 1951, as Lucille puts it, they migrated to another country called Brooklyn before moving to yet another country called Mount Vernon in 1983. Upon retirement in 1999 they relocated to their dream home in Chesapeake, VA.

Henry was an active parishioner at St. Augustine RC Church in the Bronx where his faith was rekindled. He was an usher for several years and a founding member of the St. Augustine’s men society. Utilizing his carpentry skills, Henry restored a crumbling wall in the church and in appreciation for his work the church awarded him a plague. He was blessed to find a warm & welcoming church family at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Norfolk where he faithfully attended until his health deteriorated.

Henry was working in the record store a few doors down from Claridge Hosiery and became an avid record collector as well as an avid dreamer. His first passion was to become a doll manufacture. It was an ambitious goal for a person of color in the 1940’s but financing was not forthcoming. Whenever he interviewed for a job he always presented himself as a master of the trade. In 1957 he became a restaurant owner and opened Hank’s Seafood Shelter on DeKalb Ave in Brooklyn. Working from sun-up to sun down, frying fish and potatoes and providing a safe haven for young teenage boys, many of whom stayed out of trouble because they had a place to go and feel welcomed. One of which they took on as their own son (Sonny).

The restaurant business is a risky venture so after 2 years Henry chose a profession that gave him joy and fulfillment, carpentry. He was one of the first black men accepted into the Carpenters Union no small accomplishment. Like everything else he did he became a Master, teaching himself the trade, giving up pints of blood but no limbs. He took drafting class at Brooklyn Tech HS at night and learned how to read architectural drawings and plans. His innate creativity propelled him into a profession that he worked at until the age of 75. Even though his cliental had beer bottle budgets they benefited from his champagne taste. They received Mahogany instead of pine. He never compromised on quality and could turn “sow’s ear into a silk purse” and gave his children the same values.

A measurement of a man is what he leaves behind: His devoted wife Lucille of sixty-five years, his daughter Lauren Williams, son, Winselow (Sonny) Tucker and wife Arlene, grandchildren Jonathan Williams, Errol Tucker, Wife Sabine, Winselow Tucker Jr. and wife Karen, Eudora & husband Michael Scotland, great-grand children, Errol Tucker, Jr. Katherine Tucker, Austin Tucker, Cousin Anna Williams, and grandchild Jerome Williams. And his church family in VA and NY.