Carol Janet Williams

Carol Janet (Danforth) Williams passed away September 21, 2014 after a long difficult struggle with emphysema. Carol was born December 23, 1924 to Blanche Gordon Danforth and William Reid Danforth in Alexandria, South Dakota. The following year the family moved to Mitchell, SD, where Carol and her older sister enjoyed idyllic childhoods growing up in the home of the Corn Palace. Carol graduated from South Dakota State College in 1946 with a bachelor degree in home economics education and dietetics. After a teaching career in South Dakota, she married Thomas Carroll Williams in 1950. The couple began their married life in Troy, NY where Tom, a 1947 graduate of the US Naval Academy, was pursuing advanced education at Rensselaer University.

It was the first of many homes for Carol as the wife of a Navy career officer. Throughout their life together Carol created homes for their two sons, Thomas Gordon and Jeffrey Dirk, in over 30 moves throughout Puerto Rico, California, Hawaii, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Carol was a gracious and talented hostess and homemaker in the best and most truest sense. She also worked as a substitute teacher, returning to teaching fulltime while in Philadephia. After Tom retired as a USN Captain in 1974, his civil engineering career took them to Tehran, Iran and Jubail, Saudi Arabia and they seized opportunities to see the world in their overseas travels.

Carol embraced life with tremendous energy and zest. Without a doubt, Carol’s greatest joy in life was as grandmother to Kristen Marie Williams and David Jeffrey Williams who were both with her during her final day. Carol loved to sew, and a favorite pasttime was creating “crazy quilts” for her grandchildren and family. She loved flower gardening and decorating her home with floral arrangements. She was an avid Bridge player and continued to play in several bridge groups into her late 80s. She was a member of FAN (Friends & Neighbors Women’s Group) where she made dear friends after she and Tom retired in Houston. Carol loved to read novels and poetry and collect quotations to share with her family and friends. Every March, her enthusiasm eagerly turned to college basketball, especially Duke basketball and her deep admiration for “Coach K.”

Carol was preceded in death in 2002 by her husband, Captain Thomas C. Williams, USN (Ret.). She is survived by her sons, Thomas G. Williams of San Diego; Jeffrey D. Williams and his wife, Kathryn, of Houston; beloved grandchildren Kristen Williams of Dallas and David Williams of Houston; her dear sister June Danforth Downs of Pebble Beach, nieces and nephews.

Plans for a celebration of her life for her family and close friends are pending. Her ashes will be inurned alongside her husband of 52 years at the Veterans Cemetery in Houston. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that your honor Carol’s memory with the Navy Seal Foundation, http://www.navysealfoundation.org/donations/ or Northwoods Presbyterian Church, www.northwoods.org