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Williams, Thomas Ward

September 1, 1940 –
 July 21, 2017

Obituary

A Memorial Service will be held this Saturday, July 29, for Ward Williams, 76, who died Friday, July 21, 2017, after receiving a final blessing, according to his wife Suzanne. The services will be held at 10 a.m. at Highland Park United Methodist Church – Cox Chapel, 3300 Mockingbird Lane in Dallas, corner of Mockingbird and  Hillcrest. He was a minister who served in interdenominational English-speaking churches in Brussels, Belgium; Lima, Peru; São Paulo, Brazil; and in Caracas, Venezuela. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University in North Carolina, and Master’s degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He also received an honorary Doctorate from the London Institute. He and his wife, Suzanne, retired to Valley Ranch in late 1998. He was an active member of the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas. He was an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) survivor for almost three years and participated in two “cutting edge” trials, according to his family. He was Dr. Robert Collins’ “number one patient” in the second clinical trial at UTSW that kept him alive another one and a half years. He is survived by wife, Suzanne; children, Jennifer Bowring of Dallas, Craig Murff of Al Ain in the UAE; Scott Murff of Portland, Oregon, Christopher Helgeson of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Anastasia Mileham of Cincinnati, Ohio; and grandchildren, Hayden, Bianca, Quinn, Jonathan, Mac-kenzie, Jesse, Ania, Sebastian, Abby, Nick and Drew, whose ages span from three to 22 years. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to UT Southwestern Medical Center, P. O. Box 910888, Dallas, TX  75391-0888 or online at www.utsouthwestern. edu/donatenow to support leukemia research under the direction of Dr. Collins, who is director of research and hematology for Seay Clinic and Clements Hospital at UTSW.     Please send the family condolences and sign the guest book on this site. Arrangements are under the direction of: Aria Cremation Service & Funeral Home 1820 N. Belt Line Road Irving, Texas 75061 972-607-4400

    Tom Kosakowski
    24 Nov 2017
    7:20pm

    Very sorry to read this. My wife Julie-Ann and son Daniel attended the United Christian Church of Caracas where I heard some of the best sermons ever. In fact, we just moved and, in doing so, I unearthed a stack of Ward’s sermons. That stack is now beside my bed and I read a sermon every night.

    My condolences to the family.

    Love, Tom

    Fina and Mark Urness
    15 Feb 2018
    7:36am

    Last night, we read his great message in our wedding in 1992 in Caracas. After 10 days visiting Venezuela, he came to my mind and wanted to contact him to see how we could help his church help others. Then, I found his obituary.
    We didn’t know him much but we have a great memory of him that will be in our hearts forever.
    Our condolences to you and your family.
    God bless,
    Fina and Mark Urness

    Johnny R.
    18 Dec 2021
    4:18pm

    Tom,
    I wish I could read his messages again. Is there any way to find them online? I attended that church during 1994-95

    Johnny
    sforcejr at yahoo com

      tom
      14 Dec 2023
      10:31am

      I have some individual sermons and a small book of his sermons published by the church, I could see about getting those copied and sent to you. kosakowski@earthlink.net

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