Chamber to honor Williams posthumously

During her lifetime, the late Lenamaye Williams of Whiting never took being involved in anything lightly, whether it was as Whiting’s city clerk, various civic and community organizations or the more than 70 foster children that she and her husband took into their home.

“You don’t do all the things that she did without being recognized by somebody,” said her son, Dean Williams, of her upcoming induction into the Holton/Jackson County Chamber Hall of Fame.

And even though Williams says his mother, who died in October 2014, would likely have thought the Hall of Fame honor was “silly,” it’s a recognition the family welcomes in light of her accomplishments and involvements.

“I think it’s appropriate, even though that might sound a little selfish,” Dean Williams said. “She wasn’t a showboater by any means… But she did an awful lot.”

Born June 19, 1925, in Netawaka, the daughter of Carl and H. Leona Prewett Jones, Lenamaye graduated from Wetmore High School in 1943. Prior to her graduation, she attended school in Topeka, where Dean said her early education in a one-room country school gave her an edge on the other “big city” kids.

“She was ahead of her age,” he said. “In a country school, they taught all the classes, so when you go to Topeka, you’re ahead of your particular class.”

Following her high school graduation, Lenamaye volunteered with the Red Cross during World War II. In June of 1945, she married her husband of nearly 60 years, Roland Williams, and together, they would move to Wichita, where she worked as an executive secretary, was involved in the community through her church and raised three sons, including Dean.

But in 1970, the Williams family would return to Jackson County for the sake of Roland’s health, Dean said. Not long after that, Lenamaye and Roland took on the job of foster parents to the first of more than 70 children.

“She saw a need,” Dean said of his parents’ volunteer work with foster children. “They really did well with those kids. Certainly, those kids needed a family-type setting, and Mom and Dad were more than willing to give it to them, because they were always very people-oriented and they enjoyed having people around.”

And over the years, the children that Lenamaye and Roland fostered enjoyed being with them, because they always found a way to provide things for the children that they might not have had otherwise.

“Social Services didn’t pay for braces, or for instruments for music lessons. But these kids all had them. Mom and Dad made sure of that,” Dean said.

As a testament to the work that Lenamaye and Roland did as foster parents, Dean said many of the children that they fostered were eager to keep in touch with them through the years.

“When you get people wanting to stay in touch — and a foster home wouldn’t seem like a really pleasant place to be — it says something that a lot of those kids stayed in touch, a lot of them got married and brought their families back,” he added.

Lenamaye also began a career of more than 30 years as Whiting’s city clerk, even though, as Dean explained, it wasn’t a position she actively sought out in the beginning.

“I’m sure that they came to her about the job,” he said. “She was an executive secretary in Wichita for a number of years. She was efficient. Shorthand was a second language to her.”

During her years as city clerk, Lenamaye was also involved in many other organizations that benefited Whiting, including the Whiting Community Project Committee, and she helped the city to obtain a matching grant that was used to renovate the old Whiting Rural High School into a community building.

She was also involved with the Jackson County Historical Society, the Northeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging, the Jackson County Nursing Home Board of Directors, Jackson County Relay for Life and Jackson County Friends of Hospice.

She also took time out of her seemingly busy schedule to take care of residents at Medicalodges Jackson County, provide transportation for elderly residents and people who needed cancer treatment and helping out any way she could at the Netawaka United Methodist Church.

“She would go and read to the older people at the nursing home,” Dean said. “Some of them were her age, and some of them were even younger than she was. But she would read to them; she would help with the devotions.”

Lenamaye Williams died at the age of 89 on Oct. 21, 2014, at Medicalodges, but Dean said he was pleased to see that her legacy of community involvement — whether it was activities for the betterment of the city of Whiting, the care of foster children or the volunteer work she did with various organizations — would continue to live on.

“She instilled a lot of that in us, about being involved,” Dean Williams said. “She was always that way.”

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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