Bill Martin Williams

Mass of Christian Burial for Bill Martin Williams, 80, Joplin, will be at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Joplin. Private family burial will be in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Webb City.
Mr. Williams died Wednesday, May 20, 2009, at his home of cancer.
He was born Jan. 30, 1929, in Osawatomie, Kan., the son of Curham and Esther Williams. He graduated from Neodesha (Kan.) High School in 1946.
Mr. Williams joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1946 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
During his enlistment, he became a drill instructor and served as an honor guard for the World War II Freedom Train.
Mr. Williams was honorably discharged at the rank of corporal in August of 1948 and returned to southeast Kansas to pursue an education degree at the Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg.
He earned a teaching certificate in 1951 and was hired as a teacher and coach at El Dorado Springs High School in El Dorado Springs.
In 1956, Mr. Williams accepted a sales position with the Prudential Insurance Company and moved to Coffeyville, Kan.
In 1968, he was promoted to a sales management position and moved to Chanute, Kan. He began traveling to train other sales personnel in 1976.
In 1978, he accepted a sales management position in Pittsburg, Kan.
In 1980, Mr. Williams accepted a sales management position in Joplin, where he completed a 34-year career with Prudential.
Mr. Williamswas a member of the Catholic church. He was a member of the St. Mary’s Church choir and a Eucharistic minister to the homebound.
He married Willa Mae Harvey on July 17, 1949, in Neodesha, Kan. She survives, of the home.
Other survivors include a brother, Thomas, Independence, Kan.; a sister, Margaret “Peg” Riley, Bella Vista, Ark; seven sons, Chris, Lawrence, Kan., Tony, Carthage, Kenneth, Chanute, Kan., and David, Jeff, Bill and R.J., all of Joplin; two daughters, Patty Clark and Amy Bourne, both of Joplin; 30 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Friends may call this morning until the time of service.
The family suggests memorials to a scholarship fund in his name or to the church, sent in care of Thornhill-Dillon Mortuary, 602 S. Byers, Joplin, MO 64801. Online condolences may be sent at www.thornhilldillion.com.