Local services for Laverda R. “Terry” Williams, 81, of Locust Grove, were held Saturday, November 24, 2001, at 11am in the First United Methodist Church, Locust Grove.  Rev. Mark Watson, Rev. Claude Blackford, Rev. Don Williams, and Rev. Elmer Deal officiated, with services under the direction of the Locust Grove Funeral Home.  Rev. R. Ward Williams officiated services following Monday, November 26, 2001, at 12:30pm at the Valhalla Funeral Home Chapel and Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Mrs. Williams was born September 29, 1920, in St. Louis, to Joseph and Katherine (Lambertz) Paulik.  She grew up in St. Louis and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from William Jewell College.  Her post-graduate studies were at Hartford Seminary Foundation, the Yale School of Language, and the Sorbonne in Paris.

She married Ward Williams on June 10, 1950, in St. Louis.  The couple traveled together as missionaries for the United Methodist Church for 33 years before retiring in Locust Grove in 1985.  Mrs. Williams was very active in her work, serving as Co-Director of the Methodist Boys Home in Constantine, Algeria, and Office Manager and Chief Accountant of the General Treasury of the Methodist Church of the Congo.  She also taught at the Methodist Theological School and two Methodist Women’s Schools in the Congo.  After retirement she served on the board of the student hostel in Tahlequah, and was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Locust Grove.

She passed from this life on Monday, November 19, 2001, in Tulsa. She is survived by her husband Ward Williams of Locust Grove; sons Mark W. Williams of St. Louis, David R. and wife Christine Williams of Conakry, Guinea; daughter Anne Williams and husband Dr. M. Sidibe of Cairo, Egypt; grandsons Abraham and David Sidibe; her goddaughter and niece, Kathy Love of St. Louis; nephew Joseph and Sandy Weiss of St. Louis; grand-nephews David and Stephanie Weiss of St. Louis, Michael Weiss, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, James and Linda Weiss and family, Scott and Amy Joe Love and family, all of St. Louis; cousins William and Garnet Rogers and family of St. Louis, Kenneth and Doris Pappas and family of Orlando, FL, Frank and Nancy Helderle and family of Naples, FL. She was preceded in death by both parents, sister Katherine Weiss, and brother Daniel Rix.

 Locust Grove Funeral Home