J. Tilman Williams died February 14, 2008 after a long illness. He was 82. Former mayor and city councilman of Garden Grove, California, a veteran of World War II and a graduate of Michigan State University, he was a life member of E-USA.

Williams was twice elected to the Garden Grove City Council and twice elected its mayor. “He was a dedicated man,” said current Mayor Bill Dalton. “He always wanted to do what was best for the city and make it a better place.”

Williams was a member of the Orange County Democratic Party and a leader of The Esperanto Organization. He promoted Esperanto as an international language, said his daughter Leslie Ann Williams. “He strongly believed that Esperanto could bring the people of the world together as one community,” she said.

As a father, he was fun to be around. “He was the dad in the neighborhood that all the kids wanted to be with,” she said. “They laughed even when he made up silly knock-knock jokes.”

J. Tilman Williams is survived by his two daughters Marti Reis and Leslie Ann Williams, two grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

(Excerpted from The Orange County Register and The Washington Post.)