Former Hawthorne City Commissioner and World War II veteran Rev. Joseph Williams died on Feb. 5, the city announced on Wednesday.
Williams celebrated his 100th birthday in September and called the Hawthorne and Gordon Chapel area home for all of those years. After deploying with the U.S. Navy to the Pacific Theater in World War II, he returned to Hawthorne and worked at Goodyear in Gainesville.
From 1984 until 1998, Williams served as a city commissioner. His daughter, Eleanor “Kit” Randall, followed in his footsteps and served as a commissioner and mayor, and Williams’ granddaughter, Jacquelyn Randall, is the current Hawthorne mayor…