Barbara Williams

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Barbara Williams. She died after a brief illness at Rhode Island Hospital on January 10th, 2026. She was 97 years old.

Barbara was born in New York City to John Z. and Emily C. Heizer and grew up in New Jersey and Ohio before her family settled in Marblehead, Massachusetts. 

She graduated from Marblehead High School and Skidmore College.

She married Hugh Williams and they raised five children in New York City and Connecticut. Barbara later moved to Rhode Island, living in Westerly and eventually Tiverton. Before her marriage to Hugh, Barbara received her Masters in Education at Columbia University and taught in NYC, NJ, and Venezuela. She then went on to receive her bachelors in nursing (RN) from Salve Regina and worked throughout Rhode Island. After retiring, she studied and taught in Montessori schools, which brought her great joy.

Barbara was very involved with her church and was a woman of great faith. She was involved with many organizations including the Legion of Mary, the Carmelites and the Marian movement of Priests. She had a long relationship with the sisters at Regina Laudis and the Fransiscan Sisters of the Eucharist in Meridan, especially Mother Rosemae and Mother Shaun. She prayed every day for her family and her friends and for those she didn't know. She had a great affection for people and their stories. If you met her once she would remember small details about you the next time you met. She had a great love for children and their education. She had a lifelong love for the water; she started sailing at a young age and would swim every chance she could. She shared this passion with her grandson, Sebastian. She played the cello and painted. She loved animals, nature and the weather. She read and tried to learn something new every day. She loved her children and grandchildren unceasingly.

We miss her very much but are glad she is at peace.

Barbara is survived by her five children, Chris, Gwynne, Maggie, Holly and Joseph(Megan). She is also survived by her grandchildren Sebastian, Owen and Nora, many nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and nephews and great-grandnieces and nephews. 

She is predeceased by her parents, her stepfather Jim LeFevre, her brother John Heizer, her sister Emily Hall, her brother-in-law Bill Hall, her sisters-in-law Anne Blake, Gwynne Jacobs and Shirley Williams, her brother-in-law Sumner Williams, and her ex-husband Hugh Williams.

The family wishes to thank all those who took kind and loving care of her in the last couple years of her life.

A funeral mass will take place at St Christopher's Church at 1554 Main Rd in Tiverton RI on Monday January 26th at 10 am.