George Lowell Williams' Obituary
George was born on February 22, 1914 as the first child to Agnes and William Williams in McMechen, West Virginia. The Depression started during George’s high school years, which put a damper on his dreams of college. He took a competitive exam for a scholarship and was awarded a scholarship for tuition and board at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. In his senior year he wrote a thesis on Coordinated Transportation, which won him the Charles T. Mann award. George graduated summa cum laude in 1935 and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. His first job was with General Electric as part of the staff to the assistant comptroller. After three years with GE, George’s yearning for a master’s degree had not diminished. In 1939 he completed his master’s degree in Business and Engineering Administration from the Sloan Fellowship program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Somehow, unknown to George, he was invited for an interview with Mr. Phillips, the president of U.S. Steel, who offered him a job in organizing the accounting and financial departments of the company. U.S. Steel was 25 years behind the times and located in dirty Pittsburgh. One of George’s professors said to him, “You are young. Do you want a challenge or an easier life?” He took the job. Margaret Brown, Mr. Phillip’s secretary, claims she kept putting George Williams’ resume on top of the applicant pile for the job. George’s and Margaret’s admiration for each other’s efficiency and organizational skills grew into a love relationship and they were married in June of 1941. Their first daughter Margery was born on March 22, 1943. George’s love of a challenge and expanding his skills did not diminish with time. Consequently, in 1945 he took a position with Shawnee Pottery as the general manager in Zanesville, Ohio. Later he became President and chief executive officer of the company. Two daughters were born in Zanesville. Lois was born on December 17, 1945 and Julia was born on July 7, 1948. Because George was an officer in the second largest company in Town, he became very active in the community and church. One of George’s professor’s from M.I.T. convinced him to interview with the founder and president of Metals & Controls, one of those “unprogressive, hard to change” New England companies. They treated George’s wife, Margaret like a princess, so he took the job and the family moved to Attleboro, Massachusetts in July of 1953. As expected, the founder resisted change and attempts to develop a chief executive officer to replace the aging founder failed. Metals & Controls ended up with a split board. A merger was the best solution to handle the situation. George was instrumental in the merger of Metals & Controls and Texas Instruments in 1959. During this time he became president of M. & C. Nuclear Inc., a subsidiary of Texas Instruments, and worked well with the Admiral Rickover, head of the Naval Reactor Program. Texas Instruments got out of the nuclear fuel fabrication business around 1967. Consequently, George was transferred to Dallas to manage the Geophysical Services subsidiary of T.I. Early in 1968 he was transferred to manage investor relations. Shortly before his retirement from T.I. in January of 1979, 100 investment analysts had a surprise party for him at the Harvard Club in New York, and presented him with a silver bowl and certificate saying: “In recognition of the integrity, patience and perseverance with which George L. Williams guided the investment community …” HIs daughters would add, his integrity patience, and perseverance, plus devotion to his family guided his life. Our dad was always active in the community and served on numerous boards and committees. He also participated in many service clubs, United Way fund raising, and was active in SCORE, Service Core of Retired Executives. How he found the time and energy to be home for dinner every night, unless he was out ot town, help us with our homework, have time for family conferences, and take us swimming, hiking or to the mountains most weekends is beyond us. Following his retirement my dad and mother did get to take some wonderful trips abroad to exciting places, like India, Africa, Europe and Antarctica. Of course his favorite trips were with the People to People organization, which explained to the people how to run a business. In 1985, the group went to China and in 1989 to Russia. That was our dad, always happiest when he was helping or making someone else’s life easier. GOODBYE TO A WONDERFUL FATHER AND PERSON!! Services will be held at 10:00AM, Monday, June 20, 2009 at Presbyterian Village North, in the Auditorium, 8600 Skyline Drive Dallas, TX 75243. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to a charity of your choice, or Spring Valley United Methodist Church, 7700 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, TX 75240. Condolences may be sent to: Lois Williams (daughter) 13166 West Asbury Circle Lakewood, CO 80228 Julie Sommer (daughter) Brinlee Creek Ranch 10057 CR 472 Anna, TX 75409 Bill Williams (brother) 5602 Sirius Court Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
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