MCWILLIAMS

Petty Officer David Milton McWilliams, 23, of 3000 Avenue L, Bay City, died Thursday, November 2, in Coronado, California in a civilian hospital. He was born October 24, 1955, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

Survivors include his parents the Rev. and Mrs. Milton McWilliams, Jr., of Bay City, two sisters, Mrs. Stella Lynn Boessling of Houston and Mrs. Roxie English of Lacey, Washington, three uncles, Captain H. G. Claudius of Altadena, California, the Rev. Gerald L. Claudius of Kansas City, Missouri and Lt. Cmdr. Robert H. Claudius of West Covina, California, and one aunt, Gail McWilliams of Midwest City, Oklahoma, two nieces, Nicole Gorgey of Lacey Washington and Laura Lynn Boessling of Houston, one nephew, Steven Wayne Boessling of Houston and ten cousins.

Funeral services will be held at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Thursday, November 9, at 2:00 p.m. The Rt. Rev. J. Milton Richardson, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and the Rt. Rev. Roger Cilley, Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas will officiate. Interment will be in Hawley Cemetery with full military honors.

Pallbearers will be John Arlitt, Jay Cameron, Jeff Darby, Mark Dodd, Jay Everett, Vic Everett, Jim Lewis, Lt. Andrew Pennington, Petty Officer Randy Wysocki, Ensign Shelly Pennington and Lt. Robert L. Blanchard.

Requiem holy communion is slated for Thursday, November 9, 10:30 a.m. at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, with Rev. G. Richard Wheatcroft and the Rev. Ben Shawhan, both of Houston, officiating.

Memorials may be made to the David Milton McWilliams Memorial Carillon Fund, St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

Arrangements with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home.

The Daily Tribune, November 1978

[NOTE: Petty Officer McWilliams was disinterred and cremated. He was inurned at St. Barnabas Columbarium, Fredericksburg, Texas.]
 

Original Marker at Hawley Cemetery, Blessing, Matagorda County, Texas
Courtesy of Chuck Taylor Find A Grave volunteer # 46593732

Mrs. Milton McWilliams died May 6, 2006 in Fredericksburg Nursing Home after eleven months courageous battle with brain hemorrhaging and surgeries. The family members will receive friends in the Schaetter Funeral Home from 7 until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, 2006.
 
A Requiem Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church on May 17, 2006, Fredericksburg, Texas.
 
Interment follows at the St. Barnabas Columbarium.
 
Mrs. McWilliams was born May 24, 1914 in Omaha, Nebraska, the only daughter of August H. Claudius, an immigrant from Germany and Constance Moriarty Claudius an immigrant from Ireland.
 
She married Seminarian Milton McWilliams of Ardmore, Oklahoma on July 17, 1948, in St. John's Episcopal Church, Omaha, Nebraska. They celebrated their fifty seventh anniversary on July 17, 2005 in the Rehab Unit of Sid Peterson Hospital, Kerrville, Texas.
 
Mrs. McWilliams graduated from Omaha North High School and worked for a number of years in the insurance industry. Then she entered and graduated in 1946 from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, with a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic fraternity and Zeta Tau Alpha social sorority. She was a Team Leader in Student Union activities. Gretchen also was a student at Columbia University, New York City. She graduated with a Master's Degree in
 
Christian Education from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, CA. in 1948.
 
Gretchen became Christian Education Director of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA, the largest Parish in the Diocese of California. In 1951, she became Chaplain of Episcopal Students at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK. In the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma she was a Team Member of the initial Renewal Ministries such as Parish Life Conferences. She also was a Counselor for Episcopal Summer Youth Camps in the Diocese of Oklahoma.
 
Moving to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in 1958 in Houston, she was involved in such renewal ministries as Cursillios, Marriage Encounter Weekends, Beginning Experience Weekends, and other conferences for adults. She also was a committed member of St. Francis Episcopal Church Houston and starting in 1962 of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City. In both Houston and Bay City she assisted in the founding of hospital auxiliaries at Spring Branch Hospital, and Matagorda County Hospital respectively. In 1986 Gretchen moved to Fredericksburg, Texas.
 
In addition to her parents, Gretchen was preceded in death by their son, David Milton McWilliams, a United States Navy Nuclear Plant Operator on the Cruiser Long Beach; by three brothers and two sisters-in-law.
 
She is survived by: her husband, the Reverend Milton McWilliams, an Episcopal Church Priest; a daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Ortiz, Houston, Texas; two grand children and their spouses, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Wayne Boessling, Houston, Texas and Mr. and Mrs. Tom Ward, New Braunfels, Texas; a grand God-daughter and her spouse, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Higby, Tuscon, Arizona; three great grand children; a sister-in-law; and numerous nieces and nephews, including Mrs. Nancy Carlock Rogers and Mr. David Carlock, both of Dallas, Texas, who devotedly affirmed the Family for many years and in particular the past several months.
 
Memorial Contributions may be made to St. Barnabas Parish Hall Fund, 601 West Creek Street, Fredericksburg, TX 78624; or the Hill Country Youth Ranch, P. O. Box 67, Ingram, TX 78025; or the charity of your choice.
 
Arrangements are under the auspices of Schaetter Funeral Home, Fredericksburg, TX.
 
Expressions of compassion may be sent to www.schaetter.com.
 
Bay City Tribune, Published May 14, 2006
 

The Reverend Milton E. McWilliams, Jr.

The Reverend Milton E. McWilliams, Jr., died in Fredericksburg, Texas, on March 17, 2012.

A Requiem Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at 11 a.m. March 31, 2012, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, West Creek and South Bowie Streets, Fredericksburg.

The Reverend Jeff Hammond will be the celebrant.

Other Officiates will include The Reverend Dick Elwood, The Reverend Harley Savage and The Reverend Dyana Orrin.

The organist will be Hazel Hansen. Interment will follow at the St. Barnabas Columbarium, with The Reverend Jeff Hammond as interment minister.

Reverend McWilliams was born September 7, 1920, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the capital of the one-time Creek Indian Nation.

His parents were Milton E. McWilliams, Sr. and Christine Moore McWilliams.

Milton grew-up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the leading community in the one-time Chickasha Indian Nation, where he graduated from high School.

Milton earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, with a history major and mathematics and chemistry minors.

He was a member of Sigma Chi social fraternity, Tuff Muggs Cheer Squad, and was active in intramural sports.

After his graduation, Milton received a commission in the U.S. Army Artillery and was assigned to active duty at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

Following his assignment to numerous continental U.S. (CONUS) posts, Milton served with a regimental combat artillery unit.

In this capacity, he served with the First and Third Armies in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II.

Upon returning to the United States in 1946, Milton entered The Church Divinity School of The Pacific, Berkley, California, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree.

Milton later worked on his doctorate in Sacred Theology at The Pacific School of Religion in Berkley.

While in seminary, Milton married Gretchen Elizabeth Claudius on July 17, 1948, in St. John’s Episcopal Church, Omaha, Nebraska.

Gretchen also graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkley.

She served as director of Christian education for several congregations in the Episcopal dioceses of California, Oklahoma and Texas.

Reverend and Mrs. McWilliams returned to the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma where he was ordained to the Diaconate in 1949 and to the priesthood in 1950.

He served congregations in Oklahoma City and Edmond, Oklahoma.

In 1957 Milton moved to the Episcopal Diocese of Texas where he served as the first chaplain and headmaster at St. Francis Episcopal Day School in Houston.

In 1962 Milton and Gretchen moved to Bay City, Texas, where he served as rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church until his retirement in 1986.

Milton served as dean of the South-west Convocation of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas for 23 years.

He was involved in such renewal ministries as Cursillio, marriage encounter weekends, beginning experience weekends, and other conferences for adults.

He was also involved in the Commissions of Liturgies and Christian Education in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

The McWilliams moved to Fredericksburg in 1986.

Milton served as supply priest to numerous congregations in the Episcopal Dioceses of Texas, West Texas and Northwest Texas.

In Fredericksburg, Milton and Gretchen were docents at the Nimitz Museum and were active in AARP.

He also served as an early advocate for the city’s food pantry and recycling center. In addition to his parents, Milton was preceded in death in 2006 by his wife Gretchen and, in 1978, by their son, David Milton McWilliams, a U.S. Navy nuclear operator on the nuclear cruiser Long Beach.

Their daughter, Stella Lynn Ortiz of Houston, died earlier this year.

Stella Lynn is survived by her husband, Carlos Ortiz.

Milton was also preceded in death by: his two sisters, Susan McWilliams Carlock and Gail McWilliams Peddy.

Reverend McWilliams is survived by: two grandchildren and their families, Steven Wayne Boessling of Houston, and Laurie Ward of New Braunfels; as well as his God-daughter, Elizabeth Rose Higby and her husband Jeff and family of Tucson, Arizona.

Milton is also survived by: three great-grandchildren, a sister-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews, including Nancy Carlock Rogers and David Carlock, his wife Trixie and daughters Camie and Happy Carlock of Dallas.

The family is grateful to the McWilliams’ longtime caregiver Vicki Trammell, and to his physicians, doctors James Partin, Rad Kothmann and Mel Jackson, all of Fredericksburg.

The family further wishes to thank the faithful caregivers at Knopp Healthcare Center as well as the HCM Hospice staff.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, 601 West Creek Street, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Schaetter Funeral Home, Fredericksburg.

Expressions of compassion may be set to www.Schaetter.com or to the family of Milton McWilliams, attn.: Nancy Rogers, 7911 Caruth Court, Dallas, Texas 75225.

Bay City Tribune, Sunday, March 25, 2012
 

Copyright 2006 - Present by Carol Sue Gibbs
All rights reserved

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