Gregory Williams

Gregory Lynn Williams was born to the late Eli Terry and Carrie Harper Williams on July 9, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan at Harper Hospital. Although he began his life as most of us, he cried like a baby, beyond that point he grew up in a loving Christian home and embraced life as an adventure. He showered his family with sweet memories often wearing a mischievous grin; and welcomed friends with open arms. He displayed a tremendous work ethic with honor and commitment and practiced his faith with fervor. Gregory spent his childhood with his siblings, Macklin (Grace, deceased), Edward, Jacqueline (Lowell, deceased), Daryl (Cassandra) and Deborah sharing wonderful times sprinkled with teasing, some competition, and a lot of laughter. He was a couple of hours short of being born on our father's birthday, so he started throwing annual birthday parties for himself that usually ended during the wee hours of the morning so they became joint birthday parties. Once he started school, he always had a host of friends and we could tell how long he knew you by the name you called him-- Spoolie, Mad, Roomie, Smoke, etc. He proudly recalled his years attending Detroit Public Schools: Pingree Elementary, Joyce Elementary, Barbour Junior High and Denby High. He began his collegiate studies at Michigan Lutheran College, later transferring to Mercy College of Detroit (now Univ of Detroit-Mercy) with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While attending Mercy, on March 4, 1972 he crossed the golden sands of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Eta Xi) at University of Detroit. Last year he celebrated his fiftieth anniversary of membership. Gregory was loved and highly favored by his family and friends. He was the Godfather for all his nephews: Nathan, Jason, and Steven Williams and one niece: Amy Lauren Hughes. Although unofficial, he viewed the entire group as his Godchildren: Christina, Natalie, Erin, Shanika, Rochelle, and Candice. His love continued to the subsequent generation; Xavier, Eli, Jordan, Gabriel, Ian, Sydney, Jackson, Phoebe, Micah, Chloe, Nina, and Kai. Baptized into the Lutheran faith as an infant, Gregory continued his fellowship by being confirmed at the former St. Mark's Lutheran in 1964. He later joined Gracious Savior Lutheran. Developing an early desire to travel he blended his love for family and friends by attending the annual CDH (Curry, Dunning, and Harper) family reunions throughout the United States. He often came home with surprise plans to take a quick trip out of town. We soon got use to his pop-in visits and grew to expect his frequent favorite treks to Alabama, Georgia, and Pennsylvania each year. Sports provided massive enjoyment to his life. It did not matter the season or the sport, he could recite accurate statistics on players, teams, histories, champions etc. This love allowed him to meet several people and make unexpected connections. Someone remarked that he was the only person they ever saw listen to the radio and watch two televisions with different games on each and be able to tell what was evolving in real time. Also, he ran cross-country track in high school, was the team statistician for his high school and college basketball teams. He was an avid bowler participating in travel and money leagues. For a few years after retirement, he coached high football at Wayne Memorial in Wayne-Westland. While working as an office courier as a teen, Gregory received a surprise exiting the Penobscot building to meet the legendary Ted Williams who asked if he knew where he might find a sporting goods store. Gregory offered to accompany him so he would not get lost and they talked sports all the way. Sadly, he was so excited he did not think to buy a baseball for an autograph! While in college, he worked as a teller for the Bank of the Commonwealth and later Highland Appliance for approximately 20 years where he began as a receptionist to general manager of several stores. This position afforded him the opportunity to afford many family members and friends to get entry level positions with little or no experience. Throughout his work life the only position he ever applied was to the U.S. Postal Service, all others were referrals. In 1993, he married the former Arnita Gregory. He loved and assisted in the rearing of her children, Eric and Sabrina as well as later helping grands, Angelo and Carly. He swelled with pride in teaching Angelo to read long before he entered kindergarten using the newspaper sports section as his first reading source. Over the last ten years when Arnita was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's while battling his own health issues, he devoted himself to faithfully caring for her and her extended family members' medical care concerns. Besides siblings, several caring cousins, his mother's siblings are saddened by his passing, Nashville Harper, Mae Adams, and William (Judith) Harper. Also, his father's remaining siblings are missing his love; Patsie (George) Jones, Ernestine (Alfred) Gray, Annie Carroll, and Lee Odahlia Williams. Throughout his life, Gregory brought joy and happiness to those around him, always supportive of others and just causes. No more sorrow, no more suffering, no more pain, there will be peace forever more, we will all be together again when we reach the other shore. Gregory, our lives will forever have a deep void.

Gregory Williams

July 9, 1951 - September 3, 2023