The Time Has Come

Yesterday afternoon in Franklin Virginia, Benjamin Atticus Williams Jr died peacefully at the tender age of 90. He was surrounded by friends and family. He lived a full and wonderful life. It was thirteen years and one day after his wife, Corinne Millikin Williams, died.
He was an amazing man, loved by many. As my grandmother was known to say, "All men are little boys." This certainly rang true in the sweetest of ways for her husband and my grandfather, Daddy Ben. All of his grandchildren and great grandchildren, as well as his two sons and their wives, will be together on Tuesday to remember, celebrate and lay him to rest.
I am so blessed to have known him and have him in my life. He will be missed and cherished.

His beginnings, as written by him for his memoirs for the Library of Congress on his WWII experiences:
"My name is Benjamin Atticus Williams, Jr. I was
born November 6, 1919, to Benjamin Atticus
Williams and Ida Davis Williams in Courtland,
Virginia. In August of 1919 my parents’ house
burned, so I was born in the home of my mother’s
sister, Nette Davis Howell. Aunt Nette lived on the
corner of Flaggy Run Road and Linden Street. We
lived at this address until 1935 when my mother
bought a home on Main Street. We shared this house
with Misses Mabel and Irene Kitchen, two maiden
ladies who helped my mother spoil me to some extent.
My mother was a wonderful woman. She was a good
businesswoman and made many sacrifices for me. I
grew up in Courtland playing baseball, and fishing
and swimming in the Nottoway River. I was a
member of the football and baseball teams for
Courtland High School and graduated in 1937.
I have been told that my father was a progressive
businessman. He was the head of the Peoples Bank of
Southampton when he suffered a ruptured appendix.
My father was transported to Norfolk Hospital by
train and died in March of 1920. I was about 4
months old."