[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S83]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MARSHALL B. WILLIAMS

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, last week, as most people visited family 
and friends, enjoying the especially festive days between Christmas and 
New Year's, hundreds of South Carolinians, including myself, were 
saddened to learn of the death of a truly remarkable and legendary 
person--Marshall B. Williams. For almost 50 years, this man faithfully 
served the people of the Palmetto State as a member of the South 
Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate. His 
easy going style and desire to build consensus among his colleagues 
made him an especially effective legislator and helped to ensure his 
re-election year after year. As a matter of fact, his longevity in the 
South Carolina Senate earned him the distinction of not only serving as 
that body's President pro tempore, but the Nation's longest serving 
State official.
  While I have known the Williams family much of my life, I did not 
really come to know Marshall until 1928 when he visited his sister who 
lived in Ridge Spring, SC. About 20 years later, in 1947, we both found 
ourselves serving in State government. I had just been elected as 
Governor of South Carolina and Marshall was in his first term as a 
member of the House, being close in age as well as single, we quickly 
became good friends. It was a friendship that I valued and one which 
literally lasted a lifetime.
  Marshall was born of a different era and was the product of the 
values and traditions of the Old South, where manners and civility were 
stressed, and kindness was not an aberration. Such characteristics 
personified Marshall throughout his personal and public lives, he 
treated everyone with whom he came in contact with respectfully and 
kindly. His geniality and desire to build alliances and friendships 
earned him the respect and admiration of the men and women with whom he 
served, his constituents, and citizens throughout South Carolina. It 
also helped him to become an effective and strong leader within the 
South Carolina State House, where he chaired some of the most important 
and influential committees in the Senate. He was a figure who commanded 
deference and respect, both because of his position and seniority, and 
also because he accorded others those same courtesies.
  With his bow tie and gentle manners, someone who passed Marshall on 
the street might confuse him for a professor or a retired accountant 
rather than a strong and capable political leader. During his tenure in 
the South Carolina Legislature, Marshall helped to create an era of 
unprecedented growth and change for our State, helping South Carolina 
become one of the leading centers for commerce and industry in the 
Southeast. It takes an especially unique man to be born in an era when 
most of the citizens of our State had little formal education and 
earned their living by farming, and in later years have the vision to 
help prepare South Carolina to compete in the high-technology global 
marketplace of the 21st century. It was the work of a handful of 
leaders--of which Marshall Williams was one--in the public and private 
sectors, that prepared South Carolina to meet the challenges of the 
future and Marshall can be proud of the legacy he left.
  Mr. President, this past Saturday over 1,000 people gathered in 
Marshall's hometown of Orangeburg, SC, to pay their last respects to 
this man. I was among those who had the honor of eulogizing him and I 
began my remarks by noting that ``A giant has fallen''. This truly 
describes Senator Marshall Williams, he did so much for the State and 
Nation that created him. I know that his wife Margaret, and his 
children, his grandchildren, and a large circle of friends will miss 
Marshall a great deal, and I certainly join them in their mourning for 
this very special man. He touched the lives of thousands through his 
work and efforts, and South Carolina will never be the same place as a 
result of his passing.

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