Carrie B. Williams lived her life with enviable grace and resilience, rising from humble roots in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she was born on September 14, 1922. She joined the ancestors on May 26, 2017, at age 94.
Her family will hold a private celebration of her life on Sept. 14, which would have been Carrie’s 95th birthday.
Ms. Williams was a long-time resident of the Southland, having first moved here in 1930, with her mother, Emma, and her younger sister, Juanita, before returning to Shreveport, where she graduated from Jefferson High School. After working in the Office of the Secretary of War and the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington DC, she returned to live in Los Angeles in 1945 after a brief marriage to Warren F. Taylor.
She was an employee of the Los Angeles Sentinel, one of the most prominent newspapers in the city, during that era. In 1950, she started working at the Hall of Records, and married Jodie King, Jr., in 1956. They had three children together, Meta, Philip and Patrice. Their marriage ended in 1961. She would remarry her first husband, Warren, in 1967 – a union that lasted until his passing in 2001.
After 25 years of service to the City of Los Angeles, Ms. Williams retired to Irvine, California, where she spent the next 22 years in well-earned comfort. She traveled frequently to places such as the Bahamas, Las Vegas, and London. She returned to Shreveport in 1998 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of J.S. Williams & Son, the family’s mortuary business.
She remained active throughout her advancing years and used every occasion to whip up some of her kitchen magic for family and friends, serving favorites such as tacos and enchiladas, tamale pie, her homemade spaghetti sauce, and her special pineapple upside-down cake!
She is survived by her three children, Meta, Philip and Patrice, as well as her two grandchildren, Alva and Joshua.
Juanita Banks, her only sister, preceded her in death in December 2015. The two are now together resting in peace, making their appointment with God complete.
