Journalist and author, William G. “Bill” Williams of Mechanicsburg, died on September 2 after a long battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis. He is survived by his wife Mary Jane (nee Sayers) of 61 years; his three children: David (and Heather) Williams of Mechanicsburg, Jonathan Williams of Carlisle; and Johanna Jones (and Scott Cook) of Camp Hill; five grandchildren: Katherine and Hannah Jones of Camp Hill, Evan Williams of Mechanicsburg, Elizabeth Agar and Joy Garman of Boiling Springs; and five great-grandchildren: Ian, Kendall, Ella, and Liv Garman and William Agar; his sister Barbara Roberts of Keyport, NJ; several first cousins in England and Wales; as well as several adored nieces and nephews. Bill treasured every member of his family.
Bill was born August 18, 1935 to the late William and Norah Williams. His parents had immigrated to West Scranton from South Wales in 1927. His father was a coal miner as a boy and young man in Wales and continued mining in Scranton, and later worked for the former Scranton Tribune. The family were members of the former First Welsh Congregational Church in West Scranton.
Bill graduated from Scranton Central High School in 1953 and attended the Pennsylvania State University majoring in journalism. He was a lifelong PSU Football fan. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1952 through 1960 and was on active duty from 1955 through 1957 as a radar operator aboard an air craft carrier, the USS Coral Sea. He worked in the Scranton Tribune newsroom as a night copyboy during his last two years of high school. Later he was a reporter for The Reading Times in 1959, news editor of The Clearfield Progress from 1960 to 1971, a five-state editor for The Associated Press in Philadelphia from 1971 to 1974, and bureau chief for The Associated Press in Harrisburg from 1974 to 1978, and retired in 1996 after 18 years as the director of the Republican Caucus Communications Department for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
In his retirement, he wrote 6 novels of historical fiction, a play about his mother’s life, and an epic poem about his father. He wrote many columns over the years for the Harrisburg Patriot News. In 2018, he wrote his last book – a compilation of the humor columns he had written for over a decade a Welsh-American international newspaper, the Ninnau.
Unable to fly in the Navy due to partial color-blindness, he later qualified for a private pilot’s license and flew with a Clearfield group called the Shortway Pilots. His special interest was the Civil War, the subject of two of his books. He was also a public speaker on the Civil War, on Wales and the Welsh people. He and his family made eleven trips in his lifetime to Wales to visit his grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He was very proud of his Welsh heritage and in 2011 completed a goal to take all of his children and grandchildren to Blaengwynfi, the small village that was the birthplace of his parents in Wales.
Bill was a past president of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table, member of the Camp Curtin Historical Society, the Friends of Gettysburg, and the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Society. He was also an active member of the Camp Hill United Methodist Church and its Pioneer Sunday School Class, the USS Coral Sea Association, and the Scranton Central High School Alumni Association. Bill and Mary Jane travelled extensively. He traveled to all 50 states and to more than a dozen countries.
He also served as vice president of the National Conference of State Legislatures Leadership Staff and was a member of the Professional Journalism Society, the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association, the Northwestern Pennsylvania Tuberculosis Society, the Clearfield County TB Society, and the Clearfield United Fund.
A memorial service will be held at the Camp Hill United Methodist Church on a future date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Homeland Hospice of Harrisburg or the Camp Hill United Methodist Church.
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