Jack Williams M.D.

Dr. Williams lived a magnificent life of service to his country and dedication to his family. Born to Reverend Forrest B. and Mrs. Beatrice Williams on October 18, 1928, in Hochheim, Texas, he was blessed with both superior intellectual and physical abilities, and nurtured an insatiable interest in the biological sciences. He was both strong and ambidextrous, which served him well in his youth as a golden gloves boxer, and later as a surgeon (his surgical teams struggled to keep up with his skill and dexterity). He married his high school sweetheart, Georgia Sims, on July 20, 1946--the beginning of a long adventure of life and love. With Georgia’s support, he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and his medical degree from Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas in 1953. He and Georgia would be blessed by the birth of three children: Linda, Wanda and Jack Glenn. Tragically, Dr. and Mrs. Williams lost their first child, Linda, to leukemia.

He joined the US Air Force October 1954 as a Physician and First Lieutenant, serving as a flight surgeon, flying long missions with the Strategic Air Command at the front lines of the Cold War. He rapidly progressed in his medical and military career, serving as Assistant Chief of Surgery at Carswell AFB, TX. From 1962 to 1964 he served as the Commander of the 657th Tactical Hospital, Tan Son Nhut Air Base South Vietnam, and Commander of the 6160th USAF Dispensary and as Director of Medical Services, Itazuke Air Base, Japan, during the Vietnam War. He and his unit served with distinction, earning the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. He later returned to Can Tho, South Vietnam in 1969 as Chief of the Air Force Surgical Team on an interim basis.

Dr. Williams continued training to become a thoracic-cardiovascular surgeon and a pioneer in medical research and surgical techniques and procedures. He went on to serve as Chief of Surgery at Keesler AFB Hospital before retiring as a full colonel.

He moved his family to New Orleans, where he began a new career as a civilian thoracic-cardiovascular surgeon, and took positions as Professor of Surgery at Tulane University School of Medicine, Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Chief of Surgery at Charity Hospital. Then, in 1980, the Surgeon General of the Air Force personally asked Dr. Williams to return to the US Air Force due to a critical shortage of surgeons with his abilities. Although it literally required an Act of Congress to re-instate him, it was accomplished with astonishing speed, and he became the Special Assistant and Senior Consultant to The Surgeon General of the Air Force in Thoracic-Cardiovascular Surgery, and as a Clinical Professor of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Simultaneously, he served as Chief Surgeon and Medical Services Commander at the Air Force’s premiere hospital at Lackland AFB, San Antonio.

Dr. Williams concluded his Air Force service with an assignment to Scott AFB, Illinois, as commander of the medical center and commander of the Air Force’s worldwide Aeromedical Transport Service. He and Georgia were then finally ready to move back to Houston to support family, and he retired a second time as full colonel in 1985, receiving his third Legion of Merit Award. He was affiliated with the Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston, and St. Lukes’ Hospital, conducting surgery, establishing a wound care management clinic and participating in activities with Southwest Medical School and many other professional medical associations in the advancement of medical science. He contributed to more than 50 publications and presentations throughout his career. His early groundbreaking research and clinical development of the use of saline solution and plasma for stabilizing trauma patients, and for use during surgery, saved untold lives on the battlefield and in field hospitals. His protocol remains the standard of care today. Dr. Williams’ additional special honors include the following: President, Air Force Society of Clinical Surgeons; Member, Board of Governors, Air Force Society of Clinical Surgeons; and Air Force Representative to the American College of Surgeons, Young Surgeons Symposium.

After over 60 years of tireless devotion to medicine, he retired to enjoy spending time with his wife, other family, and friends, and to pursue his interests in art, music, photography, travel and culture, fine food and intellectual conversation.

Dr. Marion Jack Williams led a highly successful and rewarding life. He was preceded in death by Georgia, his loving wife of 67 years; by his brothers Forrest B. Williams, Jr., William B. Williams, Alan N. Williams, and his sister, Ina Claire Sypert. He is survived by his sister, Alice Williams; his daughter Wanda Herfarth and her husband Fritz; his son, Jack G. Williams and his wife Jeannette; by four grandchildren: Lauren and husband, Dr. Landon Smith, Dr. Jacyln Harrison and husband Charlie; Daniel R. Williams, JD and wife Sarah Williams, JD, and Kelly Williams; and his great grandchildren: Jaidyn, Weston, Nolan and Lincoln Smith and Benjamin Harrison.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Friday, the 25th of September, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

The funeral service is to be conducted at half-past ten o’clock in morning on Saturday, the 26th of September, at Union Grove Baptist Church, 24380 FM 149, Richards, TX. The interment will follow at Poole Cemetery at 24265 FM 149 where the US Air Force will perform Military Honors. A reception is to follow at Union Grove Baptist Church Fellowship Hall.

For those wishing to make a charitable donation, please consider a gift to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in appreciation for their work in overcoming the disease that took the life of Dr. Williams’ much beloved daughter, Linda.