The courage to overcome: The life of Reggie Williams
Now in his 80s and living in San Antonio, Reggie Williams remains one of Orrville's favorite sons.
Orrville native Clarence R. "Reggie" Williams, U.S. Air Force colonel, retired, remembers a Wayne County childhood filled with challenges and overflowing with good people who helped him every step of the way.
"Orrville was a great place to grow up. I had a great childhood and upbringing," said Williams, the Orrville High grad now living in San Antonio. "There were things that were racist in nature, but there were always people — Black and White — with goodwill who wanted you to do well and were willing to help you."
Williams was raised by his single mother. "My mom was a fireball," he said. "She taught me to stand up for myself."
Deeply involved with sports, Williams was co-captain of the Orrville High School football team his senior year. After considering a full academic scholarship at Dartmouth, he enrolled at The College of Wooster, where he was a four-year letterman in football. Williams was one of the charter inductees into the Orrville High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and also is a member of The College of Wooster and Wayne County Sports Halls of Fame.
Williams' mother was a housekeeper at the college when he attended. Tongue in cheek, he described the experience as having "advantages and disadvantages." The disadvantage, "she always knew what I was doing," he said.
Sadly, she passed away his junior year.
Williams was named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and graduated in 1963 with a degree in biology. He later went on to earn an M.A. in education at Westfield State Teacher's College.
With the potential of being caught in the Vietnam draft looming large, Williams joined the Air Force and was sent to the Deep South for training. It was 1963. "People were afraid for me when I went to Biloxi," he said. "I had a linebacker's personality."
Williams went on to retire from the Air Force as a colonel, receiving proclamations from the City of Orrville, The College of Wooster and Wayne County in recognition of contributions to his community.
His many accolades include being awarded the Alamo Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award, The College of Wooster Distinguished Alumni Award and the San Antonio Area Foundation’s recognition of naming its resource library The Reggie Williams Resource Library. In 2015 Williams was the honorary chairman of the San Antonio Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and also was named one of Orrville High School’s Outstanding Alumni.
After announcing his military retirement, Williams began a second career when he moved to San Antonio to take a job in the private sector at a large financial services company. After working at that position for 10 years, he retired again and began another career in the nonprofit world as the CEO of the San Antonio Area Foundation, a multi-million-dollar organization. In this position he was instrumental in developing and implementing community-development projects in a variety of arenas — from veterans to animal welfare.
With 20 years at the foundation, Williams stopped working to care for his wife, who had become ill. She passed away in 2015. He later worked at Hallmark University for several years.
Looking back on his life, Williams downplays all the firsts. "To live in the age when I grew up, chances are if you did anything significant, you were going to be the first, and I had those opportunities," he said.
A pioneer in many ways in his early Wayne County days, Williams said that's just how it was.
When asked his opinion of current national and world issues, Williams said, "I still really believe there are more folks of goodwill and courage out there than there are others, not only in the communities I grew up in, but all over the land," he said. "When something is done wrong to one of us, it's done wrong to all of us. Courage is the thing that allows us to stand up in the face of wrong."
Williams recounted a story of having the opportunity to attend a small dinner party where he sat with Maya Angelou. "I asked Maya, 'What is the most important characteristic you think a person can have?' She said 'courage.'"
Williams is concerned gains he has seen in his lifetime could be lost. "I'm an American citizen, black face and all, and it's my country as well as your country," he said. "I wore the uniform (of the United States Air Force) for 27 years, vowing to support and defend the Constitution, and I'm glad I did.
"There was so much progress in the '50s, '60s and '70s, and I'd hoped my grandchildren would see the benefits of all the changes we made in those hard-fought years. Now there seems to be this fight on the part of some to do away with the positive advances that brought justice and equality and diversity to the United States of America, to roll things back, to deny slavery ever existed, to deny injustice is still occurring."
This, Williams said, is where courage and goodwill is needed now. "People have to stand up. Because if they don't, the bullies of the world will take over."
Has Williams actually retired at this point in his journey? "I've been thinking about what I want to do next," he said.
In recent years he's kept as busy as ever with numerous positions on the boards of arts organizations — enjoying his interests in music, theater and dance. No longer playing sports, he now enjoys spectating. And to Williams, nothing is more important than family. "What I really want to do is spend time with my daughter and grandchildren," he said. "Family is what keeps me smiling."
The octogenarian’s advice for young people? "All my life has been about not ignoring the difficulties, not ignoring the uncomfortable, not ignoring the obstacles, but overcoming them," he said. "That's what I would hope that young kids today will know: There are no obstacles that you can't overcome. None."