Dudley Grady Williams Jr. May 11, 1915 ---- March 10, 2018 102 years & 10 months During the spring of the year Dudley Grady Williams Jr., was born o Tuesday, May 11, 1915 at home on a farm near Bessemer in Marengo County, Alabama. He was the youngest of seven children born to the parents Dudley and Pattie Williams Sr. His siblings, In order of birth, included; brother Earnest, (fraternal Twins) sister Lula and brother Luther, sister Arlean, brother Edie, and youngest sister Lela May. It was during these early years of life that Grady experienced the joy of childhood. He stated that he was treated as a King by his family and was given a pet goat as a playmate. Midway through his youth, at the initiation of the stock market crash of 1929, with the backdrop of the Great Depression, Grady, as he was named by his teacher, experienced the unfortunate circumstances of a divided household. So as the epidome of hardworking Grady was able to negotiate with the local lumber mill to get a job and with the neighborhood bank to pay off the mortgage to his mothers family home at the tender age of thirteen. This was a seemingly insurmountable feat to be accomplished by a young negro male (as African Americans were than called) especially in the south, during the Jim Crow era, he worked the remainder of his youth successfully paying off their mortgage. This act of surrendering his youth and stepping into manhood served a dual purpose in his life and was sure a benefit for his life to come. First, these experiences taught him how to work hard to earn everything he owned. This spirit allowed him to endure through the depression of the 1930s and the turbulent war years of the 1940s. it was at this time that Grady switched industries from the lumber mill and leaped over to the steel industry by taking a position with US Steel as this company had agreements with more than twenty counties in Alabama to employ a formidable labor force. It was on the backs of these workers that US Steel built the company into the Titan for which it has become known. Grady was foremost among this group of employees working there for nearly 35 years and retiring in 1981. Grady remained in retirement for nearly forty years, to the disbelief of the company, often times receiving calls to inquire about his well- being as he was retired and receiving a pension for more years than he was actually employed This spirit of determination and endurance served him later as he coupled with the sudden loss of his dear mother, who was his true dearest friend. Grady tried desperately to control his emotions as he coped with her death but often found himself in despair. It wasnt until the late 1940s that he finally found comfort from the scriptures and was able to peacefully grieve his mothers death after learning of the precious hope the resurrection from Jehovahs Witnesses. In 1950, Grady got baptized as one of Jehovahs Witnesses in Lake Pontchartrain, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He Took his service to Jehovah seriously to heart and maintained his dedication for nearly 70 years all the way to the conclusion of his lifes journey. As the nearly 103 years of Gradys life has passed, he has had many accomplishments. He picked himself up from poverty as a boy; thus, establishing his manhood to not only save his mothers home but also, to escape the segregation of the Jim Crow South, putting himself in a position to build his own home in 1963 in Joliet, Illinois where he both lived and died for over 55 years. Grady was featured in a front page article in the Herald Newspaper to highlight his building skills as he climbed a telephone pole used as a ladder to replace his roof at age 81. He truly was a jack of all trades and was determined to be self-reliant no matter the cost. Since the 1930s, Grady has enjoyed the loving partnership of matrimony spanning for some 80 plus years becoming twice widowed along the way, but spending the last almost two decades with his loving, patient, and enduring wife Mary Thompson Williams, who he affectionately called Sweet. Together they have traversed the distance of the United States as a tag team behind the wheel. They have generated a wealth of memories and milestones that has colored and spiced their marriage until he took his final breath. Leaving to cherish his memory are a host of children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, and many loved ones that he has adopted along the way. Jobs Faith In The Resurrection Man, born of woman, Is short-lived and filled with trouble. He comes up like a blossom and then withers away; He flees like a shadow and disappears. Yes, you have fixed your eye upon him, And you bring him into judgment with yourself. But a man dies and lies powerless; When a human expires, where is he? O that in the Grave you would conceal me, That you would hide me until your anger passes by, That you would set a time limit for me and remember me! If a man dies, can he live again? I will wait all the days of my compulsory service Until my relief comes. You will call, and I will answer you. You will long for the work of your hands. Job 14:1-3,10,13-15