Obituary, Owatonna People's Press
OWATONNA, MN -- Harvey Williams, 81, of Owatonna, died Wednesday, June 2, 2004, at his home.
He was born March 16, 1923, in Owatonna, the son of Fred and Emma (Olp) Williams. He served his country proudly in World War II as a combat photographer in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was wounded during combat and received the Purple Heart. Upon moving to New York, Williams married the former Jean Nelson Turner (also of Owatonna) and raised two daughters, Jan and Kay. Harvey began a career in sales at the International Playtex Corporation and rose through the ranks to retire as the Vice President and General Manager of Research and Development in 1987. He experienced the NYC blackout of 1964 in his office at the top of the Empire State Building and received a commendation for leading a group of frightened people down 67 flights of stairs by "torchlight."
Widowed in 1979, he married the former Patricia Ehrenstein in 1990, and together they published TRAVELHOST Magazine (NYC Suburbs edition) from 1988 until they sold the business in 2003, and returned to Owatonna. He was currently selling advertising for TRAVELHOST Magazine of Southern Minnesota.
Harvey Williams is best remembered for his generous spirit, unstoppable work ethic and his hearty laugh. He was not only an executive and a salesman, he was a writer, a musician, a hole-in-one golfer, a horse breeder, a gambler, a sports and theater fan and a faithful churchgoer. Although he was no longer active in the congregation since the move to Minnesota, Williams had been a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New Rochelle, N.Y. since 1958, where he served as president, vice president and a council member for many, many terms.
He will be greatly missed by his wife, Patricia Williams of Owatonna; his daughters, Jan Troehler of North Carolina, Kay and Michael Krubiner of California; his step-daughters Cathy and Ian Rosenfeld of New York, and Emily and Andrew Richardson of Colorado; 7 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren; his sister, Joyce Williams of Owatonna; nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents Fred and Emma Williams, his brother Richard Williams, and his sister Beverly Williams.
Visitation will be held at Michaelson Funeral Home on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. and on Monday from 10 to 11 a.m. Funeral services will be held Monday, June 7, 2004, at 11 a.m. at Michaelson Funeral Home in Owatonna. The Reverend Louisa Fure of Trinity Lutheran Church will be officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to The American Heart Association or The American Lung Association. Forest Hill Cemetary, Owatonna, MN.
"Actor's Life" Sept. Column for Internet Entertainment Magazine, DaBelly.com
By Casey Williams
My Biggest Fan
When I was five years old, the lights went out in New York City. It was the big blackout of 1960-something and I was in dance class. I remember we sat on the floor of the dance studio, bathed in the last light of the setting sun, waiting for our parents to pick us up. Driving home with no streetlights or stoplights, my mom explained that my dad wouldn't be home until very late. "He's got to climb down the stairs," she said. And I fell asleep waiting for him on the couch. You see my dad worked on the 67th floor of the Empire State Building as a Vice President of International Playtex. He got a framed citation for leading a group of frightened people down the stairs. By candlelight. Torch-light, actually. Well... burning tampon light to be specific. You gotta love Playtex. Maybe that's where the burning bra idea came from.
So it's not surprising I think of my dad as a hero. And he actually was a hero-- well, sort of. He was a Marine during World War II, a combat photographer and as it said in his hometown paper, he "just got a little too close to the action." He was shot twice in the leg and got a Purple Heart. When he went back, they took him out of the line of fire and put him on "sound." He was in a boat with the Marines landing on Iwo Jima and he always said that if you heard the BBC recording, you could hear him and his fellow sound engineers yelling "Shit!" almost as loud as the explosions around them. Apparently the swearing was edited out for the American broadcast.
My dad was a dealer in Vegas after the war - a card dealer... although there was some unpleasantness involving a redhead, drugs and a jail cell, but I don't think I ever got the full story on that one.
He played bass in a dance band in Minneapolis after that and when his old girlfriend moved to New York City to become an actress (she'd been widowed in the war), he followed her and they quickly managed to get themselves kicked out of the Barbizon Hotel for Women-- no men allowed. Shortly after that they were married at the Little Church Around the Corner, the actors' church.
My mother was a fur model and he sold... something. Could have been anything. That man could sell ice to the Eskimos. When my sister was born they lived in a little apartment in the Bronx. By the time she was old enough for school, they moved to Dover, Delaware and his association with Playtex had begun.
They did community theatre, my mother did a radio news show and my dad wrote a theatre column in the local paper. He always said he only tried out for the school play in high school to get to know my mom, but obviously a love of theatre was born during that audition. I never saw him act, but he's awfully handsome in the pictures.
Although she was dragged to all their rehearsals, my sister was never bitten by the acting bug (although it's cousin, the "figure-skating" bug did manage to draw blood). They lived in New York by the time I was born and even though I never knew them as actors, I jumped right into the "family business" with both feet. He would have done anything for me, to help my career, but Playtex didn't really need a 12 year old girl for their bra commercials (Jane Russell pretty much had that position locked up) and try as I might, I could never convince him that they needed a "bathing cap" commercial. So my dad did the only thing he could, he took me to see the "Milliken Breakfast Show"-- an "industrial" filled with Broadway singers and dancers, singing Broadway songs, the lyrics "adjusted" to appeal to the fabric industry all performed at nine in the morning. It was amazing and I'm sure I was the only 12 year old in the audience! I think I saw it four years in a row.
I know my dad did a lot of important things while he was in Research and Design at Playtex-- there are a couple of patents, one for a kind of milk crate and another for some new kind of underwear. For all I know, he could have invented the plastic underwire in my bra! All I know is that when he finally left Playtex and I had to actually go PAY for my lingerie, I was AMAZED at the price! No wonder he could afford to send me to Brandeis University!
When I was 19, my mother died after a long illness. My sister was already married with kids, so it was just my dad and me. It took a little while for us to adjust-- after all the years he was working late and I was dealing with my mom, I wasn't really ready to have him try to take over as a parent. Luckily, we figured out that we really liked each other and we became friends as well as family, and at that point he became both a mother and father to me. Although, I knew my dad would remarry one day, I made him promise to wait until I got married first, so he did... six months! It was a big year for weddings in our family. Not only did I get a step-mother, I also got two more sisters. So now I have three sisters, two brothers-in-law, one significant other-in-law, five nieces, one nephew, four grand-nephews and (knock wood) one more niece or nephew on the way. And a dog-in-law, I think. Or is it a half dog, once removed?
My dad supported my career in every way he could. He paid for acting camp, lessons and college, he took me to shows on Broadway, in London and even Vegas, and he never asked when I was going to get a "real" job or why I hadn't "made it" yet. He drove to see me in dinner theatres, flew to see me in regional theatres and never missed a TV appearance. He even babysat my daughter while I filmed the commercial I have running now. He was a shoulder to cry on and my biggest fan. His laughter was the laughter I listened for and his applause was what I sang for.
I will always look for him in the audience. It's just that now he's got a different seat. Sure, maybe it's a better seat, but I can't go and sit there with him after the show anymore. You see my dad died of a heart attack on June 2nd and right now, it feels like I'm never going to get over it.
I know this column isn't like the usual Actors' Life. But this isn't the way my life usually is either. Thank you for letting me share with you how much I loved my dad.
On behalf of the entire DaBelly staff we would like to offer condolences to Casey and her family.