Obituaries: Rhys Williams

UU World: The Magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Nov/Dec 2003 by Skinner, Donald E, Greer, Jane

The Rev. Dr. Rhys Williams died July 20, 2003, as a result of pancreatic cancer. he was 74.

Williams was born February 27, 1929, in San Francisco, Calif. He received an A.B. from St. Lawrence University, a B.D. from the Theological School of St. Lawrence, and a D.D. from St. Lawrence Theological School. Emerson College in Boston, which he served as a trustee, awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1962.

Williams was ordained in 1954 by the Unitarian Church of Charleston, S. C., where he served from 1953 to 1960. In 1960 he was called to the First Church in Boston. He led the effort to rebuild the church after it was destroyed by fire in 1968. Four years later, the merged First and second Church moved into its new building where Williams served until his retirement in 2000. The congregation named him minister emeritus.

He recently published a book, Triumphant Living, a collection of sermons from five decades of preaching. Williams is survived by his wife, two children, and five grandchildren.