Community mourns the loss of pastor, activist

The Rev. Jodey Williams became pastor of Bellmore United Methodist Church in July 2008. It was her first appointment as a spiritual leader, but she had long ago committed herself to the church.

Williams, 60, suffered from deteriorating health in recent years, but her death on the morning of July 24, of complications from a serious fall, came as a shock to all who knew and loved her, said her younger brother Wayne.

Williams and her brothers, Wayne and Jerry, grew up with a father who served in the military, and they were all born in different places –– Jodey in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Raised in the Methodist Church, she had a deep connection with her faith. She graduated from Pfeiffer College, a United Methodist College in Misenheimer, N.C.

A bachelor's degree in theater arts brought Williams to New York in 1974 to chase a Broadway career. She was involved with off-Broadway productions as well as community theater. Eventually, she worked full time as a dispatcher for a moving company.

Williams eventually left the job owing to stress, Wayne said. She held a variety of jobs from then on, but throughout, she remained connected to her church.

"For the last 20-some years, she was very, very involved in church," Wayne said. She was so deeply committed to the church that she eventually obtained her layperson speaking license.

After the attacks of Sept. 11, Williams's commitment to her faith was a means of support for others. The Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church in Manhattan received a grant to offer counseling to anyone and everyone who walked through its doors, and Williams was there to help people work through their grief.

Her involvement in layperson ministry led Williams to the seminary. For Williams, who had Type 2 diabetes and was legally blind, school work at New York Theological Seminary wasn't always easy, but she remained committed to completing her degree. She had "a great deal of determination to finish seminary and to follow through with going into the ministry," Wayne said. She even received a standing ovation at graduation from fellow graduates and faculty members.