Patricia Elise Posey Williams

Born November 21, 1937 in Montgomery, Alabama to Alfred Crawford Posey and Ruth Jeannette Picket Posey, Patricia Elise Posey Williams was the eldest of the three Posey Girls. The family soon moved to Jacksonville, FL where she spent her youth developing her sense of fun and kindness with her sisters and friends.  After high school she attended Florida Southern University, joining Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority and becoming known for her creativity, singing and dancing in University fund-raising events.  Pat left school to help support her family as a stewardess with National Airlines, a southern-focused airline then headquartered in Jacksonville, FL.  As a ‘Stew’ in the Golden Age of Travel, her stories described commercial air travel as quite glamorous – serving full meals on bone china, meeting courteous passengers in formal attire with politeness and civility as the norm.

In 1957 Pat visited a long-time friend in Albany, GA where she met her future husband Harold J.M. Williams, home on break from West Point Academy.  They married February 13, 1960 in Jacksonville, FL. after “Mac” completed US Air Force pilot training.  The newlyweds immediately begin their loving life together – first stop: Beale AFB, CA. and the birth of two boys and two girls in six years.

Pat was foremost a Wife and Mother.  She embraced her role as military spouse with unwavering grace and kindness, leading the family by example with a life well-led.  Through a distinguished military career then as CEO of several successful aerospace companies, Pat and Mac lived with fierce determination to provide the most loving and secure environment possible.  As her husband’s responsibilities grew, her role grew in parallel resulting in an increasing military and civilian responsibilities.  Without fail, she joined organizations local to every town – in Georgia she was Den Mother for the local Boy Scouts, in Alabama it was the local YMCA, in Nebraska she was active in the Omaha Symphony Guild and in Texas she was an officer in the San Antonio Women’s Club and Alzheimer’s Organization.

In times of illness or accidents, she traveled to provide care to multiple family members and friends – without question or hesitation.  Especially in hospital environments, it was not unusual for strangers to gravitate towards her kindness and be comforted by her strength as they struggled with their own personal tragedy.  The family remains convinced Mac and Pat provided quiet and anonymous kindness and support to many we will never know.

Pat will join her loving husband Major General Harold J.M. Williams (Mac), USAF Retired who preceded her in death, at West Point Military Academy on July 26, 2024. She is survived by her loving two sons, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, six grandchildren, brother-in-law, cousins, nieces and nephews.

To her last days, she exhibited the true grace and kindness towards others, most often in song which served to inspire everyone she met.  In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made on behalf of Mrs. Patricia P. Williams to the Gary Sinise Foundation for military veterans https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/ or to the Southern Grace Hospice Foundation https://www.southerngracehospice.com/donate .