Rev. Roger Carl Williams

Rev. Roger Carl Williams BA ’60, MDiv ’63 passed away on January 16, 2021, at the Liberal Good Samaritan Center in Liberal, Kansas. He was born on February 17, 1936, to Luella and Albert Williams near Protection, Kansas. He married Deloris A. (Richardson) Williams May 4, 1956, in Winfield, Kansas.

Roger was delivered at home by his grandmother, Stella Baker, who served as a midwife for many families in the area. He attended a small, rural school in Sitka until they moved to Ashland, where he graduated high school in 1954. He attended Fort Hays State College, Southwestern College, and Anderson University. Despite a near fatal polio infection, he graduated from Anderson University (Indiana) with a bachelor’s degree in 1960, and from the Anderson University Seminary in 1962. He began his ministry at the First Church of God in Winfield, Kansas. He then pastored the Church of God in Caldwell for 12 ½ years, followed by shepherding the congregation at South Church of God in Liberal for 20 years. Brother Roger, as he liked to be called, also provided weekly church services at the Liberal Good Samaritan Center for 42 years.

He is survived by his loving wife, Deloris A. Williams; son, Roger D. Williams; and daughter-in-law, Erin B. Williams. He has four grandchildren, Meredith R. Williams, Jerrod D. Anderson, Trevor A. Williams, and Jody S. Anderson, along with two great grandchildren, Brody and Kinsley Anderson. Other surviving family members include his younger brother, Ivan Williams, and sister-in-law, Helen, along with their children, Mary Jo Linscott and Debra L. Williams, and their spouses and children.

Roger was preceded in death by his parents and beloved daughter, Judy G. Anderson.