On Friday, February 19th, 2021, John Mitchell Williams was called home at the age of 57. The world has lost a great son, brother, husband, father, and leader.
John was born in New Kent County, Virginia, on July 1st, 1963. After graduatin...
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On Friday, February 19th, 2021, John Mitchell Williams was called home at the age of 57. The world has lost a great son, brother, husband, father, and leader.
John was born in New Kent County, Virginia, on July 1st, 1963. After graduating from New Kent High School, after never once missing a day of school, in 1981, he relocated to the southeastern part of Virginia, or “The 757,” as he would come to affectionately call it later in life.
His first years in the region were spent as a student at Old Dominion University, graduating in 1985 with a marketing degree. Marketing wasn’t his only focus while at ODU; in 1982, he pledged the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Tau Lambda Chapter.
Shortly after graduation, John started his foray into the field of insurance sales. His first stop was at Allstate, where he was there long enough to get a taste for the business and meet his future wife and mother to his two daughters, Carolyn Kates (later Williams, but we’ll get to that). John and Carolyn wed in May of 1989, and a few years later, he started his own insurance business that would eventually become what we know as Armor Insurance.
John proved to be a business maven, winning countless awards and landing at the top of numerous sales lists. But you wouldn’t know if you asked him, relatives and friends would stumble over awards in his office or find them in drawers or the garage, unmentioned and never spoken of by John. The accolades were never the focus; the praise and adoration were never the driving factors with John. Instead of the quest to do things the right way, the first time was a North Star that drove him.
Doing things, the right way meant a life dedicated to God and family, being a man of action, not words, but when his words were spoken, they were listened to by the masses. Active in the ministry from his days as a child at Second Liberty Baptist Church to his time later in life at Calvary Revival Church and most recently New Life Global Church.
John was many different things to many different people. A husband, a son, a father, a frat brother, a Harley man, a workout buddy, a mentor, a shoulder to cry on, a friend to laugh with, an insurance wizard. And while he was a different thing to a bevy of people, he was fundamentally the same thing to all of them…a terrific example of how to do what was asked of you, and while he will be missed, he will be honored and never forgotten.
John is preceded in death by his Father Richard E. Williams Sr. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Carolyn Kates Williams, three children; Jamaal Anthony (Hilary) of Portland, Oregon; Nia of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Dominique of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Two grandsons, Liam and Aaron; two newborn twin granddaughters, Simone and Vivienne; his Mother, Gloria Clarice Williams; three brothers; Richard E. Williams Jr. (Karen) of Glen Allen, Virginia; Wayne (Silvia) of New Kent, Virginia; Daniel of New Kent, Virginia and a host of close relatives and loving friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to be made in honor of John Mitchell Williams to New Life Global Local or Global Outreach, Life Enrichment Center of Norfolk or Alfred Street Baptist Church Ministries.
Life Enrichment Center of Norfolk: 230 W. Bute St. Norfolk, VA 23510 or online at (LecLiteracy.org);
New Life Church: 1244 Thompkins Ln, Va Beach, VA 23464 or online at ( newlife.global ) either Local Outreach or Global Outreach;
Alfred Street Baptist Church: 301 S. Alfred St. Alexandria, VA 22314 or online (www.AlfredStreet.org)
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