Williams, Darwyn J (1922-2016)

WILLIAMS, WALSH, LEE, SEISER

Posted By: Colleen J Ossman (email)
Date: 2/9/2017 at 13:37:59

Webster City Freeman Journal
Dec 16, 2016

Darwyn Williams, 94, of Webster City, died Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at Crestview Nursing and Rehabilitation. A Memorial Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, December 19, 2016 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, with Rev. Stephen Meyer, celebrant. Burial will be in the Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be at the Foster Funeral and Cremation Center from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 18, 2016, with a 2:00 p.m. Rosary.

Darwyn James Williams, son of Arthur and Lenore Walsh Williams, was born November 6, 1922 in Creston. He graduated from Creston High School in 1940. That summer the family moved to Webster City and purchased the Shulte Drug Store, renaming it Williams Drug. In the fall of 1940 Dar enrolled at Webster City Junior College, this is where he met his future wife, Iona. After graduation, Dar joined the U.S. Navy, serving in the South Pacific as a naval officer during WWII. He returned to Webster City and on February 23, 1946, he married Iona Lee at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Webster City. The couple lived in Mare Island, CA while Dar was in the Navy. Upon his release from the Navy, the couple moved back to Webster City. Dar enrolled in the College of Pharmacy at Drake University. Following his graduation in 1949 the couple returned to Webster City where Dar joined his father in Williams Drug. Iona helped for many years in the cosmetics area of the business. They retired in 1990.

Dar is survived by sons and daughters-in-law, John and Debbie Williams of Waldorf, MD; Diane Williams of Webster City; Ted and Linda Williams of Webster City; Tom and Christine Williams of Des Peres, MO; daughter and son-in-law, Margaret and Tom Seiser of Springfield, MO; foreign exchange son and his wife, Gerardo and Mandy Biritos of Buenos Aires, Argentina; 15 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews.

Dar was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Iona in 2012; son, Michael James Williams in 2011 and sister, JoAnn.

He was a trustee of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus, Board member of the Hamilton County Hospital, Member and Past President of Rotary and a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, member of American Legion Post 191, on the Chamber of Commerce Board, President of the Iowa Pharmacy Association, received the “Bowl of Hygeia Award” from the A. H. Robins Co. of Richmond, VA for outstanding community service, was on the executive board of the National Association of Retail Druggists and was the 89thPresident of the group in 1987.