95-year-old celebrates his 45 years as a ‘gofer’
Before he was 50, longtime Ford Heights resident Jim Williams worked as a magistrate judge and a businessman, served in the Navy during World War II and was involved in political work and education.
This is a man who met historic musician and actor Paul Robeson and hosted longtime congressman Sidney Yates and musician Mahalia Jackson — “the Queen of Gospel Music” — in his home.
Yet when Williams turned a half a century old, despite all that prestige amassed during the previous five decades, he said he became a “gofer.” That was 45 years ago, when he joined the
Rotary Club of Chicago Heights — now known as the Rotary Club of Chicago Heights and Park Forest. He started doing small tasks for the group and then things took off from there, including being the club’s president in 1986.
Williams, 95, was honored for his generosity on Thursday at the group’s picnic at the Park Forest Central Park Pavilion. He has made several donations over the years to the Paul Harris Fellow program. Harris was a Morgan Park native who helped organize the first Rotary Club in Chicago in 1907.
Williams, the guest of honor, missed the event because of
COVID-19 pandemic concerns, but when reached by phone, Williams talked about his special bond with the Rotary Club.
“I started out as a gofer,” he said. “I loved the Rotary Club because it helped people and assisted in important things, such as education. If anyone all over the world needed supplies, clothes or food — anything they could do to help people, the Rotary was interested in helping them. Back in those days (1975) there was a lot of discrimination. The Rotary Club helped people regardless of race, creed or color and that’s why I wanted to join.”
He dove right in and made a lasting impression with the club.
Club treasurer Terry Brown said he has known Williams for 40 years and admires Williams’ dedication — especially attending weekly meetings.
“He rarely misses a meeting,” Brown said. “When we met in person and he couldn’t drive, he always found a ride. I think he’s devastated that we haven’t been able to meet in the last six months, but he does call in to the Zoom meetings every week. It was sad that he wasn’t able to attend our picnic.
“He seems to know everybody in the community — or of them,” Brown added. “You can ask him about anyone and he’ll give you an answer.”
The club’s president, Mary Dankowski, said Williams has shown a lot of energy during the in-person meetings.
“When he came to our meetings and would get there early, he would register people as they came in,” she said. “He would be sergeant-at-arms. He would announce the elections. He’s still a pretty active guy for 95.”
The pandemic has slowed Williams down a bit.
He joked “it would take a week to tell you all that I have done over the years” but since March, life has been restricted to home.
“I haven’t been able to do much,” he said. “I am still an active member of the Rotary and they have asked me if I had any thoughts or ideas about things they are doing so I offer my suggestions. They asked me about fundraising and other things that need to be done.”
He said that if the pandemic ends, he still has a few good years left in him.
“I think so,” he said. “I do exercise. I’m outside a halfhour a day. I take care of myself.”
He is keeping his mind active by participating in a book club on Zoom. He is reading history books on Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall and Johnny Cochran.
He is learning about history, or to be precise, he is learning some new history that has made what he learned before obsolete.
“There is a lot that happened in history that I didn’t know,” he said. “Of course, if you break the word down, it’s ‘his story’ — whoever wrote it. And ‘his story’ is not necessary the whole truth. I found there’s a lot of that.”
Brown said that Williams traveled around the world for Rotary conventions, including a trip to Munich in the late 1980s. Aside from working with the Rotary, Brown said Williams has volunteered with the St. James Hospital and Health Center board and the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse in recent years.
“He’s pretty sharp for 95 years old,” Brown said. “And physically, he’s in good shape. He’s amazing. I hope I’m like that at 95.”