'To know him is to love him:' Friends, family remember life of local pastor Clarence Williams
Rev. Dr. Clarence "Teddy" Williams, 64, was unforgettable.
"I never met anyone in my 41 years of life that didn't know him, not in Savannah," said his daughter Shayla Loadholt. "He was just so great, he had a personality like no other. To know him is to love him."
Williams died Sept. 28 in a car crash on State Route 67 near Anderson Cemetery Road in Bulloch County. It was believed that he experienced a medical episode while driving, according to the accident report from Georgia State Patrol.
He was a father, a friend, a pastor and a monumental figure in the Savannah community.
"As a pastor you want to be community connected by default, and anything that he was involved in he was very instrumental in," Loadholt said.
Before his passing, Williams was the pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church of Savannah. He was also a moderator for the Berean Missionary Baptist Association, Inc.; vice president for the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. Music Auxiliary; state music director for the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia, Inc.; chapter representative for the Gospel Music Workshop of America; chaplain for the Chatham County Sheriff's Department and for the Savannah State University National Alumni association, according to their website.
'Pastor Clarence Williams was truly one of a kind:' local pastor dies in crash
More: Clarence Teddy Williams:Savannah's black preachers aren't manipulating black voters
Williams had about 50 years in music ministry, according to his daughter, and had played for almost every denomination in the city, so everyone had a story about him. She said that she thinks music was just innately apart of him, the reason he was so connected to it.
"I still know how to play "I'm a Testimony," the very first song,he ever taught me on the piano," Loadholt said. "Those probably were the best memories, being able to accompany him in ministry. I would always be called to sing before he preaches or something like that. Those are the events that mattered the most. "
Rep. Anne Westbrook got to know Williams through political work, when she hired him in 2022, while she was running for Savannah's House District 163.
"I'm one of the folks who's known him a little shorter, he's got you know, deep, deep roots. He's worked for everybody forever," Westbook said. "I had just talked to him that Monday of that week, we were in pretty frequent contact. It's just such a shock. It's been interesting since he passed so suddenly, I realized he must have been calling people all the time, because he was in frequent contact with so many people. So many people said, but I had just talked to him."
Sen. Derek Mallow is related to Williams, and has fond, vivid memories of growing up around him, and what a pillar he was for Savannah's Black community.
"He just said what made folks uncomfortable, and he was comfortably uncomfortable," Mallow said. "Sometimes that got him in a lot of trouble, but Clarence always wanted to do what was right to help move African Americans forward, he wanted to see more equity. He didn't want equality. He wanted equity."
During the Civil Rights Movement, Mallow said Williams was involved in the fight to get 37th Street renamed to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and was an instrumental advocate in getting Congressman John Barrow elected and in changing the outlook at Capitol Hill to make sure there were more chiefs of staff and deputy staff positions available to African Americans.
He said the community owes Williams' children, all seven of them, a debt of gratitude - every game or event he couldn't make was him giving his time and energy to serving his community.
"When you think of Rev. Dr. Clarence Williams, you think of someone who always showed up for everybody, and sometimes at great cost to his own family," Mallow said. "For that we owe him a debt of gratitude, and it is my hope that his life is seen as the sands on the beaches, and my hope that his life burns an eternal flame in the hearts of Savannahians, so they'll continue to make sure his family is alright, because that is what he would want them to do. I'm encouraging everyone to make sure that his family wants for nothing, because he gave so much."
Services are pending at Campbell and Sons Funeral Home and will also be shared on their Facebook page when finalized.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at dambus@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Local pastor Clarence "Teddy" Williams remembered as pillar of community
