Joan Williams

Published courtesy of the Cordell Beacon

© Cordell Beacon

Graveside services for Joan Williams were held Friday, September 13 at the Lawnview Cemetery in Cordell under the direction of McClure Funeral Home.

Joan was born November 21, 1943 in Albany, Georgia. She passed away September 10, 2002 in a Kingfisher Nursing Home at the age of 58.

She was the daughter of Bretch Kelso and Beatrice (Hawkins) Williams. She was the only child born to this union, so she was very special not only to her parents, but also to all who knew her.

Joan attended school at Cordell and was a member of the graduating class of 1962. Following high school, she attended Panhandle State University and The University of Oklahoma, receiving a B.A. in French in 1966. While working on her bachelor's degree, she also attended the University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France. Then in 1968 she received a teaching certificate in French and Spanish from Old Dominion University , Norfold, Virginia and in 1979, a Masters of Arts Degree in French and English with a Study in Spanish from Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia. And finally, in 1987, she received state certification in Library Science from the University of Central Oklahoma.

Joan taught from 1966 to 1978 in schools in Georgia and Virginia before returning to Oklahoma to teach at Deer Creek Schools from 1979 to 1980. At that time she left education to pursue a certificate in Library Science. In 1987 she began working for the Metropolitan Library System at Capitol Hill Library in Oklahoma City. She was employed there until her illness forced her to take medical disability in March of 2002. While living in Edmond, Joan was a member of the First Baptist Church and later the Henderson Hills Baptist Church.

She is survived by aunts Bernice Burns and husband Leland of Cheyenne, Oklahoma; Betti Greenhaw and husband, Richard of Edmond and Mary Williams of Wilson, Arkansas; as well as numerous cousins, a large number of friends and her library "family".

She was preceded in death by her mother and father who were the most important people in her life.