The Life of DEWITT Q WILLIAMS
DeWitt Q (Duke) Williams, 72, former principal at East High School, died of a heart ailment Friday at a Litchfield, MN hospital.
Mr. Williams, who was visiting a daughter, Mrs. Walter Haugo, in Litchfield for about two weeks, had been ill for about five months and was a patient at St. Mary''s Hospital in Rochester, MN nearly three weeks.
Up until the time he was hospitalized he lived at 2346 E Twenty-ninth st in Des Moines.
Mr. Williams retired in 1964 after serving 10 years as principal at East High. He previously was a teacher, coach, and vice-principal at the school.
He later was named state executive assistant for resources by the Iowa director of emergency planning.
Mr. Williams was born in Belle Plaine and attended Cornell College at Mount Vernon. His studies were interrupted by World War I. After the war he returned to Cornell and received his BA degree. He received his MA from Columbia University in New York City and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, honorary scolastic fraternity.
He began his teaching career in Lisbon and later served as a coach in the Boone school system.
He came to East High in 1924 as a physical education teacher and coach.
Williams Field, the East High football stadium, is named in his honor.
Mr. Williams served on the Selective Service Board during World War II, was a past-president and lieutenant governor of the East Des Moines Kiwanis Club, was a member of the American Legion, the Des Moines, Iowa and National Education associtions, the Masons and of Wesley Methodist Church.
Services will be at Wesley Methodist Church at 3 p.m. Monday. Burial will be at Highland Memory Gardens.
Survivors include his wife, Grace, the daughter at Litchfield; two sons, Roe Williams of Des Moines and James Williams of Huntsville, AL; 13 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.