Dr John O Williams

DR. J. O. WILLIAMS Dr. John Orlando "J.O." Williams, Jr., retired Maury County physician and longtime resident of Mt. Pleasant, died Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at Maury Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be conducted at 2:00 P.M. Saturday at First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant with Rev. Phillip Wright, Rev. Eugene Barrett, and Rev. Elmer Crosby officiating. Burial will be in Arlington Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Friday from 3:00 - 9:00 P.M. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home and Saturday after 12:00 P.M. at the church. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society in honor of his late great niece, Amy Brawner, P. O. Box 1212, Columbia, TN 38402. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. Born in Gordonsburg, Tennessee, the Mt. Pleasant native was the son of the late John Orlando and Gladys Grissom Williams. He was a graduate of Columbia Military Academy, Vanderbilt University, earned his Medical Degree at University of Tennessee and did post-graduate work at St. Thomas Hospital. He served ten years in the U. S. Marines Corps, was a Captain, and received Silver Star for Bravery in Action in the Korean War. Dr. Williams was in family practice in Mt. Pleasant for thirty years, later practicing medicine in Columbia for ten years. He served as the company physician for Stauffer Chemical Company for thirty years and served as Chief Physician for Columbia Military Academy for several years. He served as State Medical Director of Volunteer Health Plan, HMO, Nashville for one year, was the first Medical Director of Workers Compensation Division with the Tennessee Department of Labor, helped organize and participated in pilot program of case management for Medicaid for three years, was the first Medical Director of the Ambulatory Care Center in Columbia in 1995; the first Medical Director of the Lewis Ambulatory Care Center in Hohenwald in 1996, and the first Medical Director of Northside Medical Center in Columbia from 1997 - 1999. He was associated with Core Physicians from 1999 - 2002 where he is Physician Emeritus. Very active in civic affairs, Dr. Williams was a founder and the first President of the Mt. Pleasant Country Club and the Mt. Pleasant Little League, and was former Mayor of the City of Mt. Pleasant. He had served as Chief of Staff at Maury Regional Hospital, President of Maury County Medical Society, President of Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians, Chairman of Legislature Committee for Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians for ten years; was selected in 1981 by Good Housekeeping magazine as one of Ten Most Outstanding Family Physicians in the United States, was Family Physician of the Year of Tennessee in 1982, was recipient of the Marise Lightfoot Community Service Award and was a member of the Fellow of American Academy Physicians. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant where he had taught Sunday School for many years. Survivors include five sons, John Orlando (Kay Kay) Williams, III, and David Walton (Theresa) Williams, both of Columbia; Carl Nicks (Elizabeth) Williams of Charlotte, North Carolina; Lee Clement Williams of Franklin; Thomas Allyn (Kim) Williams of Mt. Pleasant; grandchildren, Dr. Rosemary Williams Johnson, Rebecca Anne Williams (Eric) Hughes, Carol Parks Williams (John) Carnahan, Walker Davis Williams, Ross McKelvey Williams, Bevin Anne Orlando Williams, Lee Davis Williams, Ashley Brooke Williams, Wesley Adam Williams, Taylor Allyn Williams, David Walton Williams, Jr., Kimmie Lee Williams, Buie MacAlester Williams, John Ireland Williams, Benjamin Fox Williams, Luke Ross Williams, great grandchildren, Hooper McKelvey Johnson, Mary Kannon Johnson, Annabelle Grace Carnahan, Linton Alexander Hughes, and Amelia Sloan Carnahan; one sister, Jane Williams Kay of Apalachicola, Florida; and devoted family friend, Lydia (Gary) Benefield of Columbia, and several nieces and nephews loved by him as his own children. He was preceded in death by one sister, Sara Ann Arthur; one brother, Harry Webb Williams, two nephews, Luke Williams Ross and William Meadow Ross; and great niece, Amy Brawner. Honorary pallbearers will be Dick Hopkins, Dr. & Mrs. Allyn Lay, Starlene & Gerald Buie, David & Joyce Hughes, Tommy & Marjorie Bates, Jimmy Bailey, Judge Lee Bailey, Dr. Amit Choksi, Dr. Roy Harmon, Dr. David Daniels, Dr. Janice Vinson, Dr. William Robinson, Dr. Gibran Naddy, Dr. Reams Powers, Dr. John Simmons, Dr. Shawn Reed, Deb Wells, Dr. Marshall Crenshaw, Dr. Jim Kelley, Dr. Tom Duncan, Dr. Andrew Sisk, Dr. Victor Beck, Dr. Lawrence Grossman, members of the Maury County Medical Society, employees of Core Physicians, employees of the Bridge at Life Care Center, former employees of Dr. Williams and Dr. Lay, Mr. & Mrs. Claude T. Davis, Sr., Catherine Latham, Millie Hutcheson, Norma Thomas, Joe Parks, David & Dona Carnahan, Violet Blocker, Betsy Anderson, Dale Hardison, Rachel & Al Hurt, Red & Kay Lindsey, Tony Edwards, Rick Webster, David Lovell, Fred White, Walter & Wilma Locke, David Edwards, Judy Williams, Hunter Husband, William A. Thomas, Tommy Colvert, Anna McGaw, Tilman Knox, Rodney Shaw, Wayne Sanders, Stewart Campbell, Jr., Randy Stevens, Billie Dunnebacke, Fred Dunnebacke, Joe & Rachel Gilliam, Billy & Sheila Fleming, Katy Sue Foster, James H. Jones, Jr., Stanley & Norma Kelley, Jack Littrell, Frank McMeen, Howard Adkinson, Cliff Ragland, George Collison, Glenn Brown, John Patterson, Enos Gingrich, Tony Sowell, and the many friends that touched his life as he touched theirs.