Roy Williams at work in the recording studio.
1 of 2
Roy Williams chats with fellow historian Josephine Humphreys.
2 of 2
Roy Williams was a Sullivan’s Island icon.
In the early morning hours of March 11, Sullivan’s Island lost Roy Williams, a true living treasure.
Roy died at Mount Pleasant Hospital after having been in and out of the hospital for several months. With his passing goes an irreplaceable trove of island history. On many an island bookshelf sits his monograph, “Sullivan’s Island,” one of the “Images of America” series published by Acadia Press. In it, Roy faithfully detailed in pictures and in words most of the island’s unique homes and other buildings. His book is still used today as a reference for many of our historic homes that have since disappeared.
Roy was a tremendous friend and supporter of Battery Gadsden Cultural Center. He donated the royalties from his book for the benefit of BGCC. Some years ago, he graciously agreed to be our official historical consultant. Those lucky enough to have taken part will remember the trolly tours when Roy took groups around the island narrating the histories of our historic homes. Every tour was sold out. I smile when I recall that we had to assign someone to tug on Roy’s pant leg when it was time to move on to the next house because Roy could have talked for hours about each one of them. When we decided to make a video version of the tour, Roy worked for hours both in front of the camera and in the studio doing the narration for what became “Architectural Gems of Sullivan’s Island.”
When we began an oral history project, who did we use as our first interviewee – guinea pig if you wish. Of course it was Roy, talking about life on Sullivan’s Island during World War II, an interview that can still be seen on the Lowcountry Digital Library website. Despite all we owed Roy for his dedication and efforts on our behalf, nothing would do but his becoming an official member of BGCC, insisting on paying dues every year. Roy was that kind of guy.
Since they were living in Dillon, South Carolina, at the time, Roy’s parents never expected their son to be born in Charlotte. But on May 19, 1935, as the family was making their way to the North Carolina mountains to escape the South Carolina heat, Roy decided it was time to enter this world, albeit somewhat prematurely. This proved not to be a problem, and Roy was soon back in Dillon, where he lived until he was 2 years old. He also spent a brief period of his childhood in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, but no matter where the family lived, there was always the emotional draw back to Sullivan’s Island. Their roots on the island were deep indeed. The family had been spending summers on Sullivan’s Island since 1815, and Roy’s grandfather moved here permanently in the late 1920s. Roy spent his first year of school at Sullivan’s Island Elementary School, but, by the time he started second grade, World War II had begun, and his father was hired to supervise a special construction project in Charlotte. Living that year in Charlotte, Roy became much more aware of the war through scrap metal drives, rationing and frequent U-boat attacks off the North Carolina coast.
The remainder of Roy’s elementary education was at Sullivan’s Island Elementary School, followed by high school at what was then Moultrie High. The next year found Roy at Clemson, which at that time was an all-male military college, complete with uniforms, drill and the ever-present upper classmen. However, the next year, Roy won a four-year ROTC scholarship to the University of South Carolina, so it was off to Columbia. He graduated from there in 1958 with a degree in journalism, a commission in the Navy and a three-year commitment to active duty. He was based out of Long Beach, California, where he spent one year at sea and two years doing staff duty.
That assignment was extremely fortunate in another way. While he was there, he met a young lady who had moved from Pennsylvania – Bonnie Ann Williams. Yes, the same last name. The romance bloomed, and, when Roy’s active duty commitment was finished in 1961, they married in Houston, where Bonnie’s family lived. Even though Roy had a job waiting for him back in Charleston, he and Bonnie took off on a one-year honeymoon, traveling through Europe.
The job was still waiting for him one year later when Roy started work as a journalist for the Post and Courier. Three years later, however, his interests had shifted, so he returned to the University of South Carolina for a master’s degree in history. Other academic activities on Roy’s resume included a fellowship at the University of North Carolina and summers studying at Oxford University in England. He spent about 10 years teaching in Columbia, Darlington and Dillon before taking his final teaching job at Wando High School, a position he held for 17 years. Along the way, he and Bonnie continued their love of travel and also found time to renovate historic homes in the Ansonborough district in downtown Charleston. After retiring from teaching in 1997, Roy and Bonnie continued to travel until her death in 2019.
I was privileged to have Roy not only as a friend but also as a neighbor just a few houses away. We spent many hours working on projects, with Roy usually enjoying a cup of coffee. One of my everlasting memories will be visiting Roy last week in the hospital. His heart was failing, but his mind was not. We spent over an hour, talking history of course, with Roy as usual filling in the blanks on historical mysteries I asked him about. It’s a wonderful memory.
There’s one other thing that must be said about Roy Williams. It will come as no surprise to anyone who ever had the pleasure of meeting him. Roy was the epitome of a Southern gentleman. His manners were impeccable. No matter how ill he might have felt, he never failed to ask about your family, how they were doing and what was going on in their lives. I never heard Roy utter a mean word about anyone.
I can see Roy somewhere up above right now, talking with other great historians of the past and comparing notes. Meanwhile, he will be missed here. Indeed, the entire island was lucky to have had Roy Williams as a recorder of our history and as an advocate for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.
