Avis de décès de Lillian Williams

DUNBARTON -- Lillian Ruth &quot;Julie&quot; Williams, 89, died Feb. 24, 2009, at home. She was born in 1919 to Lillian and Charles Blake, florists, in Nashua. She graduated from Nashua High School a year ahead of schedule, then proceeded to Wellesley College (Class of 1940), where she studied music. As Julie Blake, she became a beloved radio personality at WFEA and WMUR during the 1940s and 1950s, hosting a number of shows, including the &quot;Julie and John Show&quot; and &quot;Kitchen Chat with Julie Blake.&quot; She also represented downtown Manchester's Leavitt's Department Store as the personality &quot;Laura Leavitt.&quot; IN HER LIFE: In 1953, she did an on-air interview with a potter named Gerry Williams, who had been raised by missionary parents in India. They married two years later. Her three children from her first marriage blended with the two girls she and Gerry would have. After retiring from radio in 1959, she embarked on a life of service and volunteerism. She was a member of the Dunbarton Congregational Church, and directed the choir there as well as played the organ for over 50 years. She served on the executive board of the New Hampshire ;(function() { var adKeyValue = 't='; adKeyValue+= escape('clio=ACS'); adKeyValue += escape('&cobrand=unionleader'); adKeyValue += escape('&linktext=American Cancer Society'); adKeyValue += escape('&linkurl=https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/donateonlinenow/Legacy/index?dn=mem&fn=Lillian&ln=Williams'); adKeyValue += escape('&fn=Lillian'); adKeyValue += escape('&ln=Williams'); var adClkUrl = 'http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/423686928/prod/obit-aff/obit-standard/clio-inline-1&' + adKeyValue + '&sz=1x1&c=517544847'; var adImpUrl = 'http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=/423686928/prod/obit-aff/obit-standard/clio-inline-1&' + adKeyValue + '&sz=1x1&c=517544847'; document.write("<a href='" + adClkUrl + "' target=_blank>American Cancer Society<" + 'img' + " src='" + adImpUrl + "' style='width=1px; height=1px; display:inline;' /></a>"); }());, and was active in leadership positions with the United Church of Christ and Church Women United, an organization that named her &quot;Valiant Woman of 1986&quot; for outstanding service. She was a member of Zonta, International. Deeply committed to peace activism, she attended the Paris Peace Talks as a citizen emissary for the American Friends Service Committee. She was president of the New Hampshire Women's Fellowship, and worked on the AIDS task group at the UCC State Conference. In 1985 she traveled to Russia as a guest of the Soviet Women's Committee, and was chosen New Hampshire Mother of the Year in 1988 by New Hampshire Mothers, Inc. She was quoted as saying that being a mother &quot;is a continuing process of nurturing, teaching, guiding, and releasing; it takes love, courage, patience and faith.&quot; This faith was severely tested through the deaths of two of her children: David, in 1983, and Leslie, in 2007. For 30 years, she was circulation manager of Studio Potter, the magazine she and her husband started. She was a spiritual guide and second mother to countless craftspeople who studied pottery and graphic arts at the Phoenix Workshop, which ran for 25 years at their home in Dunbarton. An invaluable and trusted partner to Gerry, she ran their businesses, acted as his sounding board, and inspired his work for 55 years. She also found the time to minister to those who needed looking after, distributing surplus government foods in Dunbarton and visiting with shut-ins and anyone she considered to be &quot;forgotten.&quot; She opened her home to those who had no electricity or running water, always showing the utmost respect for anyone who needed a bath or a meal. She invited anyone who had no place to go for holidays to join her dinner table. In the year 2004, she and Gerry received the &quot;Good Samaritan&quot; award for Media &amp; the Arts from the Pastoral Counseling Services. She taught her children patience, loyalty, generosity, courage, and zest for life. She and Gerry traveled to Mexico, Europe, India, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, the Caribbean, South and Central America, and Canada. They also traversed the United States, interviewing potters for their magazine. She made friends with everyone she met, and was greatly admired for her loquaciousness and ease with people in any setting. She was a voracious reader, a ruthless Scrabble player, an incomparable cook, an impeccable public speaker, a passionate lover of people and their stories, and, above all, a deeply loyal friend, mother extraordinaire, and the love of Gerry's life. She is survived by Gerry and her children, son Jon B. Williams and wife, Pat, of Euless, Texas, daughter Jennifer Oliver and husband, Mark, of Goffstown, and daughter Shelley Westenberg and husband, William, of Dunbarton. She will also be greatly missed by her grandchildren: Robert, Kristi, Chryss, Brandon, Melissa, Jamie, Aaron, Aidan and Jake, and by her seven great-grandchildren. Julie, Mumma, you were our North Star. You lived your life with grace and passion. You have passed the torch of love to all of your many loved ones so that we may carry on with you in our hearts and minds. SERVICES: Calling hours are planned for the French &amp; Rising Funeral Home. Goffstown, Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. The funeral will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Dunbarton Congregational Church. Memorial donations may be made to ;(function() { var adKeyValue = 't='; adKeyValue+= escape('clio=ACS'); adKeyValue += escape('&cobrand=unionleader'); adKeyValue += escape('&linktext=American Cancer Society'); adKeyValue += escape('&linkurl=https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/donateonlinenow/Legacy/index?dn=mem&fn=Lillian&ln=Williams'); adKeyValue += escape('&fn=Lillian'); adKeyValue += escape('&ln=Williams'); var adClkUrl = 'http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/423686928/prod/obit-aff/obit-standard/clio-inline-1&' + adKeyValue + '&sz=1x1&c=517544847'; var adImpUrl = 'http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=/423686928/prod/obit-aff/obit-standard/clio-inline-1&' + adKeyValue + '&sz=1x1&c=517544847'; document.write("<a href='" + adClkUrl + "' target=_blank>American Cancer Society<" + 'img' + " src='" + adImpUrl + "' style='width=1px; height=1px; display:inline;' /></a>"); }());, 2 Commerce Drive, Suite 110, Bedford 03110; NARAL Pro Choice America, 1156 15th Street, Suite 700, Washington DC, 20005, Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL. 36104, or to Dunbarton Congregational Church, Dunbaton Center Dunbarton 03046. For more information go to www.frenchandrising.com.