J. Roland Williams

J. Roland Williams

J. Roland Williams, 79, Topeka, died Wednesday, June 30, 2004. He was born to David J. and Nina P. Goodwin Williams on Sept. 9, 1924, in Topeka. Mr. Williams was a life insurance agent and financial adviser for more than 40 years. He was in the Army during World War II and was recalled for the Korean War. He retired as a colonel with the Kansas Army National Guard with a combined service of more than 36 years. He was a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He had been a scoutmaster to Troop No. 7 of the First Christian Church and served as commissioner to the Jayhawk Area Council of the Boy Scouts. He held a life membership in Orient Lodge No. 51 and was also a member of the Arab Shrine and Scottish Rite bodies. His other memberships included Life Underwriters, life member of the Million Dollar Roundtable, Antique Auto Club of America and he was a life member of the National Guard Association of Kansas and the Un ited States. He was a member of Phillip Billiard Post No. 1650 of the Veteran of Foreign Wars. He married Lila Ann "Polly" Kern on July 21, 1944, in Topeka. She survives of the home. Other survivors include a son, Todd R. and his wife, Kathleen Williams, Topeka; a daughter, Kristi A. and her husband, Charles Baker, Abilene; two sisters, Genevieve Humbert, Seattle, and Vivian Young, Topeka; and two granddaughters, Barbara L. McCall and Elizabeth C. Baker. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel. Military honors will be conducted by a funeral detail from Fort Riley in Penwell-Gabel Memorial Park Cemetery. Mr. Williams will lie in state at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel after 3 p.m. today, where the family will receive friends from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Memorial contributions may be sent to the National Guard Museum, P.O. Box 19031, Topeka, 66609-0931.