Ethel Williams
13 June 1928 – 18 January 2025
Ethel Bertha Williams, age 96, of Haleyville, AL passed away in Oklahoma City, OK on Saturday January 18, 2025.
Ethel was a teacher, through and through. She consistently took time to make sure her school children knew not just basic educational skills, but also life skills, like how to sew their buttons back on their shirts. She was also constantly teaching her grandchildren things like how to read the hymnal and how to sew. She was a storyteller and a servant, always putting others before herself. She loved people.
She was born in Phil Campbell in 1928 to Newton Leonard and Berthie Mae Duboise, the second of two children they shared together. She also had many beloved half brothers and sisters that were born from her parents’ previous marriages. Ethel’s father passed away when she was very young and she grew up in economically challenging conditions. The five cent doll her brother, Jimmy, gave her was one of her treasured memories. When her older sister, Edith, would walk home from school as a child, she would teach Ethel what she had learned. When Edith returned to school one year, Ethel asked if she could join as well. She was too young, and the teacher stated she would be bored in a few weeks. They remained in the same class all the way through high school. She excelled in book-keeping and got her first job at the Franklin County Times in 1944. At this time, WWII was in full swing. Someone from Florence State Teachers College offered her a scholarship if she could come up with fifty dollars. Through the help of her family, she was able to do so. In 1945, she became a teacher at Central Heights in Lawrence County when she was just 17. She taught there for 3 years. Later, after serving for a time as the Secretary-Treasurer at Holiday Homes, Inc in Lynn, AL, she resumed teaching at Craft Elementary school and then Phillips School in Bear Creek. She taught for 23 years all together. “Teacher” became a large part of who Ethel was. She retired from teaching elementary school in 1989. She had completed both her Bachelor’s and her Master’s in Elementary Education.
Ethel married her lifelong love, Doyle Williams in 1946. He asked, “Would you like to get married on Wednesday?” to which she replied, “Sure!” Doyle and Ethel couldn’t wait to start a family of their own. Janie Lou was born in 1948, followed by Felicia in 1949, Arthur in 1954 and their little darling, Marcia, in 1957. She loved to travel to visit her adult children on a regular basis. She also wrote letters to them and to her grandchildren consistently.
Ethel was a faithful member of the Haleyville United Methodist Church, devoting her time and energy to serving others. She often visited relatives and friends who were in the nursing home.
Ethel will always be remembered for her stoic servanthood. She always treated everyone the same, no matter their beliefs, roots, appearances, etc. She loved fully and well. We will always remember her singing, “I love you a bushel and a peck,” every chance she got. We couldn’t have asked for a better Mother, Grandmother, Friend and will miss her every day.
She is survived by son, Arthur (Rebecca) Williams; son-in-laws, Johnny Roberts, Don Kelley and Mike Logan; grandchildren, Tracie Huskamp, Christa Nall, Shonda Bush, Martie Logan, Sara Claggett, Lucas Kelley and Hannah Mhamedi; 8 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren; and a host of family and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents Newton Leonard Duboise and Berthie Mae Clemmens; children, Janie Lou Roberts, Felicia Logan and Marcia Kelley and her sisters and brothers.
Her visitation will be January 31, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Pinkard Funeral Home in Haleyville, AL. Funeral at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel, with Bro. Mitch Nethery officiating. Burial to follow in Union Grove Cemetery (Co. Hwy 62).
