Robert Williams

08/26/2001

Robert Gustafson Williams, 78, of Larrywaug Crossroad died Sunday evening at home. Mr. Williams was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 1957 and served for 19 years, many of them as chairman. He was past president of the Berkshire County Selectmen's Association and was chosen Southern Berkshire Republican of the Year in 1978. Born in Stockbridge on May 11, 1923, son of Harold L. and Ruth M. Babcock Williams, he was a 1941 graduate of the former Williams High School. He was a Navy veteran of World War II, serving with the 11th Seabees in the South Pacific. Mr. Williams was first employed by the Elm Street Market, then owned by John McCormick and Thomas Price. After his military service, he worked with his father on the Walter Hoving Estate on Prospect Hill. He also was a truck driver for R.K. Thorsell Trucking of Stockbridge from 1948 to April 1951, when he became employed by Southern Berkshire Power & Electric Co., now Massachusetts Electric. He worked as a lineman, general foreman and engineer until 1985, when he retired because of an auto accident while working for the company. He was a 52-year member of Occidental Lodge AF&AM of Stockbridge and served as master in 1952. He was a past master of Stockbridge Grange 295 and a past deputy of the Massachusetts State Grange, where he was a 65-year member. He was a past commander of the Capt. Allen W. Harrington American Legion Post and a member of the Joseph Lombardi American Legion Post of West Stockbridge. Mr. Williams was trustee emeritus of First Congregational Church, where he was a 65-year member. He was past president of Greenock Country Club in Lee and a member of the Stockbridge Golf Club. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and playing golf. During the early 1930s, he appeared in several plays at the former Berkshire Playhouse, now Berkshire Theatre Festival, where he met such greats as Thornton Wilder, Ethel Barrymore, Jimmy Cagney and Edward Everett Horton. He was an accomplished tap dancer and studied at the Ray Hart Studio in Pittsfield. He also appeared in the Elks minstrel shows at the former Union Square Theater in Pittsfield. He and his wife, the former Claire Gleize, would have celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary Sept. 24. Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Hope M. Williams-Straub of Royal Oak, Mich., and a son, Rolf G. Williams of Shrewsbury. Predeceased by a brother, Harold E. "Smokey" Williams. The funeral will be conducted Thursday, Aug. 30, at 11 at First Congregational Church in Stockbridge by the Rev. Steven Bridges, pastor. The family will receive friends immediately following the service in the Jonathan Edwards Room at First Congregational Church in Stockbridge. Burial will follow at Stockbridge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Lee Visiting Nurse Association, First Congregational Church Music Fund or to HospiceCare in the Berkshires through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. Remembrances, reflections and memories for the family of Robert G. Williams may also be sent to finnerty@bcn.net.

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