Alex Harney WILLIAMSON

WILLIAMSON, BENSON, COBBLE, NELSON, LOMMEN, BERNARD, TERRWYN, CHANTEPIE, LOMMEN-NELSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/22/2017 at 18:00:59

April 18, 1949 ---- June 6, 2017

Alex Harney Williamson, 68, died at Mayo (Methodist) Hospital in Rochester on June 6. Alex was born on April 18, 1949 in Canby, MN, the son of Henry and Bertha (Benson) Williamson. He lived in Canby with his parents and sisters, Carolyn and Laura, until 1954 when they moved to Lake Andes. He attended school there until 1967, when his mother and he moved to Clarion, IA. He graduated from Clarion High School in 1968.

He graduated from South Dakota State University in Brookings and stayed on, working there for several years. He later lived and worked for various nonprofit organizations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, except during the year 1984, when he worked at a homeless center in Jersey City, NJ. Back in St. Paul, he worked for Clean Water Action and Minnesota COACT.; During these years, he took classes in photography and learned computer skills. Before he retired, he worked as a teacher of computer classes at National American University in Roseville, MN.

Alex moved to Cannon Falls in 2004 and lived there with his sister, Laura Cobble, until his death. His health kept him from a life as active as he would have wished, but he continued his interest in indoor and outdoor photography, particularly of anything odd, beautiful or picturesque. He discovered fractals-beautifully colored patterns created from mathematical formulas-and produced many examples on his computer which he sent to relatives and friends. He was a voracious reader and listener to podcasts on the internet, was a devoted Facebook poster of photos, his own and others, as well as comments and links. He continued these posts even in the hospital during his final illness.

Alex was preceded in death by his parents. Besides his sister Laura, he is survived by his sister Carolyn Nelson (married to Robert Nelson) of Boca Raton, FL, his nephews Thom (married to Jennipher Lommen) and Eric Nelson, his nieces Melissa Nelson (married to Claude Bernard) and Julia (Coble) Terrwyn (married to Nam Chantepie), his grandnephews Ziah and Rowan Lommen-Nelson and Robert Bernard, and his grandnieces Acacia Lommen-Nelson and Harriet and Judy Bernard.

A memorial gathering for Alex was held on Sunday, June 11, 2017, at Carpenter Nature Center, near Hastings, MN. Donations may be made in Alex's name to Neurofibromatosis Midwest.

Cannon Falls Beacon -- Cannon Falls, Minnesota
June 16, 2017