LOUIS WILLIAMS

LOUIS WILLIAMS JR., a longtime resident of Beaumont, TX died September 12, 2011 at the age of 83. In the 1920s, he worked for Roberts Funeral Home; he later left the firm in 1942 to organize his own business, L.M. Williams & Sons Funeral Directors. In 1957, he opened a new location on Cedar Avenue where it remained until it was sold to the locally owned Broussard's Mortuary in 2004. He was a staple in Beaumont's local economy for more than 50 years. In the 1970s, Williams & Sons opened one of the first privately owned ambulance services in Southeast Texas. It was started by Williams' father, Louis Williams Sr., in the 1940s on Orleans Avenue in downtown Beaumont.