November 19, 1937 - April 15, 2025
Eatonton, Georgia - Barbara K. Williams, age 87, of Eatonton, Georgia, passed away in her home surrounded by loved ones on April 15th, 2025. Barbara was born on November 19th, 1937, to Frank Burdette and Rosetta Johnson Keene of Bradenton, Florida.
She attended Manatee Elementary and Junior High School and during this time was baptized into the Christian faith at Manatee Baptist Church. She attended Bradenton Junior High for 8th and 9th grade and graduated from Manatee High School in 1955. In 1958, she graduated from Orange Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Orlando, Florida with her Nursing Degree.
Around 1956, Barbara met a young man, named Donald Williams, from Ohio, who was on Spring Break with his Purdue classmates. He asked for her address, and she gave it to him. For the next two years they wrote each other as he joined the Navy and she attended Nurses' Training. They married in 1958 in Bradenton, Fl and began their married life in Chillicothe, Ohio where Donald was the manager operator of a farm that raised purebred Polled Hereford cattle. Barbara helped put Donald through school with her nursing degree when he changed careers to become a veterinarian. After his graduation in 1970 from Ohio State University, they returned to Bradenton.
Barbara was a loving stay at home mom raising 4 very active children who were involved in many school activities. She was a prayer warrior and ministered in her churches in many capacities. She loved Bunko and flower arranging and catering to her 10 grandchildren when visiting.
Barbara and husband, Donald, retired to Lake Oconee in Eatonton, Georgia in 2002
Barbara and Donald went on to have five children, Kathryn "Colleen" Williams Pope (Herman H Pope, "Buddy" - deceased), Dwayne Williams (Infant - deceased), Dawn Williams Johnson (deceased), Kyle Williams (Tammy Jett Williams), Mark Williams (Jennifer Groome Williams). They have 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her father and mother, husband, and two children.
The family will be having a private graveside service in Ellenton, FL, at a later date.
Memorial gifts for Barbara are donation of Gideon Bibles in her name. www.gideon.org/donate
