Sharon Williams

She was educated in the Harvey public schools and graduated in 1959. She then attended Thornton Community College. In 1960 she started attending Olivet Nazarene College (now Olivet Nazarene University) in Kankakee, Illinois, majoring in music.

She mastered the piano at an early age and was a church pianist during her teens. She also sang in a traveling trio from her local church. On one of her trio trips, in Florissant, Missouri, she met Paul Williams, who would become her lifelong mate.

Sharon and Paul were married on June 5, 1965. They had one son, Daniel A. Williams, born in 1970, who now lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Between 1965 and 1980, Sharon and Paul pastored churches in Gilman, Illinois; Kewanee, Illinois; Eldon, Missouri; Esther-Flat River, Missouri; and Emporia, Kansas. In all of these churches, Sharon was the church pianist and choir director. She also played for all Nazarene district functions.

In 1980, Sharon, Paul, and Dan moved to Olathe, Kansas, where she joined the staff at MidAmerica Nazarene College (now MidAmerica Nazarene University). She served in the Student Financial Services office from that time until her retirement in 2002, the last sixteen of those years as Director. In her role in that office, and especially as Director, she considered it a ministry to find ways for students to overcome difficult circumstances and attend MidAmerica.

Paul taught history at MidAmerica for thirty-one years. Partially through his role, he and Sharon were able to travel extensively within the United States, making it to forty-nine states. They also traveled extensively outside the United States, with more than thirty total trips to Europe and Israel.

Sharon is survived by her husband, Paul; by her son, Dan, his wife Rebecca, and his four children, Kaitlyn, Rachel, Meagan, and David; by her brother Rich and his wife Millie; by her brother Don and his wife Joanne; by her brother by her brother Bob and his wife Jan; by her aunt Carol Bischoff and her husband Bob; and by several nieces, nephews, and their children.