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Tennessee’s Youth As a child his father was seldom around and he spent most of his time with his mother’s family in different areas of the country. Williams considered his father non-existent. He was often verbally abused by his father when he was around, his father often calling him, “Nancy Boy”. At the age of five he was ill with Diphtheria followed by a crippling case of Blight’s disease. He was unable to walk for eighteen months during which time his mother read to him Shakespeare and other works. Williams was alienated from his father and far away in age from his younger brother Dakin. His greatest friend in the family was his sister. |