Mary Frances Williams
Attorney Mary Frances Williams was the oldest of seven children, born on May 23, 1949 to the union of Nathaniel Allen and Bennie Grace Allen.
Attorney Williams passed away in Maryland on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017.
Funeral services were held on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 from the Griggs Chapel A.M.E. Church, 724 Griggs Chapel Road Monticello, Ga. 31064 with Rev. Robert Tinsley, eulogist. Interment followed in the Crossroads Cemetery, Jordan Road, Monticello.
She graduated from Jasper County Training School in Monticello, in 1967 as class valedictorian. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Clark College in 1971 with honors. While pursuing her undergraduate degree in Atlanta, Frances met and married her husband of 46 years, retired Air Force Captain Clarrance Williams. After a brief span as a classroom teacher in Georgia and a counselor at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, she decided to pursue her goal of becoming a trial lawyer.
After obtaining a Juris Doctor Degree from the College of Law at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.,, she began her legal career as an Assistant Attorney General for Oklahoma. Once she ended her tenure with the Office of the Attorney General, Attorney Williams accepted a job offer with the federal government beginning with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Oklahoma City, which eventually led to her job placement in Washington D.C., where she worked until her retirement for the Federal Department of Labor.
Outside of her professional career, Mary Frances was a long-time and active soror of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and was honored by the sorority for her dedicated service in 2014. In addition to community service, Mary Frances was an artist with a portfolio of landscape and still life paintings as well as many sewn and hand-crafted art pieces.
Both high-striving and highly giving, Mary Frances was known by all those who were close to her as a warm motherly guiding force who used her skills and wealth of knowledge to help others around her to advance themselves and to better their lives.
Her cancer diagnosis in 2016 came as a devastating shock and she struggled with the decision to keep her battle private as she hoped to beat the odds. Her tremendous courage and even humorous nonchalance in the face of her illness helped her and her caregivers to push onward until the Lord felt her work in in this life was done. She will be greatly missed and warmly remembered by all her family and friends.
Mary Frances was preceded in death by her father: Nathaniel Allen and her sister, Gail Farley.
She is survived by her husband: Ret. Cpt. Clarrance Williams; her son: Dr. Rodrick (Teresa) Williams; her daughters: Ms. Ramona Williams and Ms. Kissa Williams; four grandchildren. She is also survived by her mother: Mrs. Bennie Grace Farley; her sisters: Mrs. Josephine Derricho and Ms. Gwendolyn Farley; her brothers: Benjamin (Martha) Allen, Winfred (Katrina) Farley, and Eddie (Jennifer) Farley, Jr.; and many other loving family and friends.