A Willing Spirit Joan K. Williams Scholarship By Jessica Sawyer
Being a public servant isn’t the only form of public service which Butler, Alabama, Mayor Mike Williams performs. Williams is also the senior executor for The Ernestine L. Lenoir Charitable Trust. His sister, Patricia Williams Harris, acts in a capacity as his co-trustee. Together, they mutually decide on worthy projects for qualified 501(c)3 charities. The trust was set up by Ernestine “Sis” Lenoir who worked at a hospital with Joan K. Williams, the mother of Mike and Patricia, beginning in the late 1950s. It was a working relationship that turned into a lifelong friendship. The Williams siblings and their parents considered Ms. Lenoir as a close family member. Williams said, “We collectively participated in holiday events and we even vacationed together. Also, ‘Sis’, my mother and I are all Atlanta Braves fans, so they were my Braves buddies.” Thanks to the University of Mobile’s music department, nursing students at UM will now have a chance to further their education through the Joan K. Williams Scholarship Fund.
“I had been utilizing UM’s bands for Butler Fest and I have hired ‘Voices of Mobile’ for Butler Fest and Christmas events, too,” Williams said. “Because of this exposure and after speaking with ‘The Voices’ bus driver, I considered an endowment at the University of Mobile. I consulted with my sister, Patricia, and we decided to proceed. “Focusing on the education of young people is one The Lenoir Trust’s main goals,” Williams said. “Our mother was a registered nurse and a surgical nurse. My sister and I have a soft spot for nurses.” The generosity of the Lenoir Foundation and the willing spirit of the Williams family goes a long way to helping alleviate future student debt for deserving students. The UM scholarship is just one of 27 endowments the trust has at four universities in Alabama. Williams said The Lenoir Trust looks forward to working with the University of Mobile in regard to future endowments. “Scholarships are our preference because, when we first started this, our hope was that some of the young people who are recipients might reminisce later in life and remember that, at a point in their life, someone did something nice for them, so they’d like to ‘pay it forward’ and do the same for someone else,’” said Williams.
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