Leo Williams

Leo Williams, 95, resident of Charlotte Hall Veterans’ Home and previously a 20-year resident of Annapolis, died in his sleep on August 29, 2019.

Born in Nashville, Arkansas on January 20, 1924, Leo worked at a young age for the Civil Conservation Corps established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.  He worked 10 hours per day for $20 per month.  At 18, Leo joined the Army Air Corps and served with distinction as a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator in WWII. Christened Red Fox for the pilot’s girlfriend, Leo’s plane was part of the 712th squadron of the 448th Bombardment Group which in turn was part of the 20th Combat Bomb Wing of the 2nd Air Division of the Eighth Air Force.  Shortly after participating in the invasion of Normandy, Leo’s plane was shot down over Villers-Cotterêts, France on his 13th mission, June 27, 1944.  Of the ten crew members, two were killed, four were taken prisoner by the Germans, and four, including Leo, escaped through the French Underground. His ten week, 250-mile, circuitous trek by foot, bicycle, truck and train led him to cross paths with General Patton’s tanks as they liberated the suburbs of Paris.  Leo jumped on top of a tank amidst the jubilation and claimed, “I am an American.”

Once back in the States, Leo recovered at the Don CeSar in St. Petersburg, Florida, a resort hotel converted to a military convalescent home for war-torn veterans.  There, Leo was to meet his future wife, a civilian employee, Margaret Kidd, and Cary Grant, who presented him the Purple Heart.

Leo soon moved to Margaret’s hometown, Washington, D.C, where they were married on October 4, 1945.  Leo worked as a carpenter and later as a building inspector for the D.C. government.  After retirement, he pursued a second career as a construction project manager for George Washington University.  In 1979, Leo and Margaret moved from Oxon Hill, MD to become one of the first homeowners in Heritage Harbour.

Over the next 30 years, Leo honed his gardening skills and became an expert duck carver and square dancer.  Always an avid Redskins fan, Leo cheered the likes of Sonny Jurgensen, John Riggins, and Art Monk, while cursing those “D#!# officials” as he called them.

Unlike many Maryland transplants, Leo mastered the art of crab-picking and enjoyed many a family crab feast over the decades.  A Miller’s beer and steaming hot crab claw were a favorite pleasure in his life, surpassed only by his love for the family surrounding him.  He often said his grandchildren were “the apples of his eye.”

Friends and family remember Leo for his grueling work ethic, ceaseless determination and spunk.  Well into his 90s, one was hard-pressed to keep Leo off a ladder or out of the attic.  Folks at Charlotte Hall could not keep him down, even after he broke his femur in a fall.  Truly, Leo did “not go gentle into that good night.”

Leo leaves behind his son, Steven Leo Williams, The Villages, FL (partner, Linda Terburg); daughter, Patricia Diane White, Crofton, MD; four grandchildren:  Heather M. Fein (Sam), Ocala, FL; Kyle A. Kneisly, New York, NY; David S. Kneisly (Kelsey), Baltimore, MD; Jordon J. Kneisly (Natalie), Edgewater, MD; and one great-granddaughter, Kobi M. Fein, Asheville, NC.  Leo was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Margaret Kidd Williams, (d. 2/15/2008); his daughter-in-law, M. Wynn Williams, (d. 3/14/2017); his parents Arthur B. Williams (d. 10/19/1973) and Sadie Jarman Williams (d. 10/21/1950), Nashville, AK; and all six of his siblings:  Earl Williams, Nashville, AK; Louise Hosey, Dallas, TX; Grace Lay, Tupelo, MS; Jewell Williams, Bakersfield, CA; Jimmy Lee/J.L. Williams, Las Vegas, NV; Ella Maye Jones, Brownfield, TX.

Family will receive friends on Friday, September 13, 2019 from 2pm to 3pm at Beall Funeral Home, 6512 Crain Hwy. (Rt. 3 South), Bowie, MD followed by a service with military honors at 3pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 26 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004.