Clinton native, ‘True Tar Heel’ honored for longevity

A little love was spread on Valentine’s Day Wednesday, as a life well-lived was recognized another time — for its longevity, its wide-ranging impact and the indelible mark left in its wake.

Coharie Country Club staple George Thomas Williams passed away in October 2023 at the age of 106. On Wednesday, Allie Ray McCullen, a Clinton businessman and former member of the Board of Trustees at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, along with David Boliek, current UNC trustee and immediate past chair of the trustees board, along with many others in tow, visited Williams’ home and read a resolution adopted by the trustees in honor of beloved alum Williams.

“We as a board decided we would take up one more opportunity to honor him,” said Boliek, who read the resolution adopted at the UNC trustees last meeting. He thanked Williams’ wife of 49 years, Linda, on behalf of UNC-Chapel Hill, noting Williams’ “fantastic service” as well as acknowledging her role in that. “Nobody can do anything in this world without help.”

The resolution recognized Williams as “the oldest living Tar Heel alumnae at the time of his passing in October of 2023, having lived and served humanity for more than 106 years.”

A Clinton native, Williams graduated from Clinton High School before going on to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1940.

Immediately after graduation, Williams entered the U.S. Navy, serving throughout World War II aboard numerous U.S. Naval ships, patrolling the coast of the continental United States and in the Pacific Theater. He was in the U.S. Navy for six years and captained a Patrol Coastal (PC) ship in the South Pacific in the early 1940s. In the fall of 1945, he assisted with the surrender of Japanese forces in the Marshall Islands. At the end of the war, Williams was honorably discharged from Naval service and returned to Chapel Hill, enrolling in the UNC School of Law and ultimately graduating in 1948.

He practiced law in Clinton for 52 years, retiring at the end of 1999 at the age of 82.

“As a true Tar Heel, he was involved in many community service organizations and led many efforts to improve and strengthen our state and his community,” the resolution stated. “Be it therefore resolved that the Board of Trustees honors Mr. George Thomas Williams for his service to humanity as a proud double Tar Heel.”

The resolution was signed and sealed by John Preyer, chair of the UNC Board of Trustees, Boliek, and Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts. Boliek presented it to George Williams’ widow, Linda, and his daughter, Venetia Mann.

“I quite literally have known him all my life,” said McCullen of Williams. “He and his brother John Blaney were my father’s attorneys when I was growing up. And, even after Mr. George was over 100, he was still driving.”

McCullen recalled seeing Williams one Sunday afternoon, when he was picking up a takeout order.

“This Cadillac drives up and I see Mr. George getting out. I hadn’t seen him in a long, long time, and I went over to open up the door for him,” said McCullen, who said he was ready to introduce himself, under no presumption that Williams would immediately recall a person who suddenly walked up to him. “I didn’t want to put him in that position; I walked up, and before I could say anything, he said ‘Allie Ray, it’s good to see you; did you go the ballgame yesterday?’ And I said, yes I did.”

Williams, a diehard UNC sports fan, proceeded to go over the minutae of the game to McCullen’s delight.

“We’ve never had anybody in this county that was in better health, that lived to that age and had a better intellect,” said McCullen. “I would say, not only was he the greatest Tar Heel, he was about the best Sampsonian. I was just real privileged to know him.”

Sampson County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jerol Kivett thanked Boliek for coming to Sampson to bestow the resolution and said it was well-deserved.

“I kinda grew up under George. We played a lot of golf together, and you learn a lot about a man on the golf course,” said Kivett.

A lifelong golfing enthusiast, Williams had a passion for the great game.

A 20-time Coharie Country Club champion and winner of a plethora of tournaments and invitationals in and out of North Carolina, the Sampson County Sports Hall of Famer’s legacy was well established.

During a special recognition at Coharie Country Club in 2017, a bronze plaque bearing Williams’ name was unveiled revealing that the putting green where he spent countless hours over the years, a stone’s throw from his driveway, would bear his name. The celebration, held just days shy of Williams’ 100th birthday, was in honor of the 70th anniversary of the golf course and in recognition of those who contributed to its rich history along the way — a past of which Williams was very much a part.

He was a member since 1948, the year after the club opened.

Clinton Mayor Lew Starling also presented Williams with the Key to the City during that 70th anniversary ceremony, an honor only a select few have ever received.

“George Williams was the epitome of the true Southern gentleman. There’s never been one that has represented that any more than George. The biggest honor I have was, he was a role model for my children growing up and they still talk about him. The best thing of all was I called him my friend.”

Linda said her husband was constantly involved in everything. He stayed sharp through the years, even as he was getting well into the three-digit category that most don’t even see. Over the years, he worked behind the scenes many times, eschewing credit for his work and accomplishments.

“I never saw a thing,” said Linda, “He didn’t let you know.”

Williams was involved in many civic and professional endeavors. Williams served on the Clinton City Board of Education in the 1960s and was board chairman in the early 1970s. He was also on the board of directors for Sampson-Duplin Mental Health and United Carolina Bank. He was an avid Tar Heel and served for 30 years as a member of the District II Selection Committee of the John Motley Morehead Scholarship Foundation. He also served for a number of years as a member of the Campbell University Board of Trustees.

He was a lifelong member of the First Methodist Church in Clinton, serving as a Sunday school teacher and member of many committees.

“He was special,” said Boliek, “and special to the State of North Carolina.”

“George and John Blaney were both my grandfather’s attorneys, they were my dad’s attorney and they were my attorney,” said Garrett Strickland. “George drew my first will when I got married. And Linda and I were old dancing partners in Chapel Hill.”

Strickland recalled George being meticulous in everything he did, and Mann said they extended well into his status as a man in the triple digits.

“When we re-did his will, at 103 or 104 (years old), those poor attorneys — he sent it back like four times, and I was the middle man,” Mann recalled with a laugh. “Every little dot had to be touched on there. so it wasn’t just you. I was a little embarrassed, but at the same time, he was still that sharp to catch every little thing.”

The Independent sat down with Williams several times over the years, the most recent visit being to Williams’ home for a surprise visit at the end of 2022 by UNC-Chapel Hill leaders, who read a proclamation in honor of alum Williams’ steadfast dedication to the university. They gifted him some UNC sports gear, which he proudly donned.

In his life, Williams won so many golf tournaments there is barely enough room on the shelves, walls and cabinets around the Williams’ home to accommodate the trophies, plaques, clocks and other trinkets bestowed to him. He played in the Carolinas-Virginia tournament — representing the Carolinas team — in which top golfers from North Carolina and South Carolina face off against those from Virginia and West Virginia.

Williams was born to play. As a young boy, he would shave down tree limbs and fashion them into golf clubs he could use to perfect his swing. The better part of a century on, Williams still approached the game with the same youthful vigor. At 75, he won the Jacksonville Invitational Tournament. At 80, he shot a career-low 65 at Coharie. He played the course at Coharie for more than 70 years, dating back to when it was a 9-hole course that had to be played through twice for an 18-hole score.

His home was one of the first on the grounds. And those trophies, along with Williams’ many law books, still line the walls of the room where the contingent gathered to pay their respects this week to the man’s longevity.

Williams always attributed that longevity to his thirst for competition, with learning and with staying involved, especially with those who were younger than him, as just about everybody around him was.

“Staying involved with young people I think keeps you young,” Williams attested on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 2017, when asked the key to a long life. “The first thing is having good genes. And I think you have to stay active — wake up every day and have something to look forward to. I stay busy.”