Mary Sanford Williams

MARY SANFORD WILLIAMS of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C, died October 14, 2013. She was born on March 9, 1926 in Milledgeville, Georgia to David and Annabel Sanford. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan and moved to Washington, D. C. in 1962. Her four children, Tommie Cason, Lenzie Williams of Baltimore, Victoria Goode of Alexandria, VA, and Cheryl Williams of Los Angeles, California survive her. She has seven grandchildren: Muhammad Metts, Leah Metts, Michael Goode, Cristin Goode, Rashida Williams, and Lenea Williams. Mary has had several careers. After retiring from the Pentagon, she became active in real estate sales and management in Washington, D.C. In the early 1980s, Mary moved to Baltimore to study nursing and continued her work in real estate sales and management. As a young woman, Mary left college to marry and raise a family. She always missed not finishing her education, so as a senior, Mary went back to school. In 2006, Mary Sanford Williams graduated with honors from Baltimore City Community College. At eighty years of age, Mary became the oldest graduate. A program coordinator at BCCC said, “She gave a very different perspective to some of our younger students.” The Baltimore Sun reported on June 3, 2006, that she was not planning to attend her graduation. “When you get to be eighty, there’s only so much you can do. Besides, I’m in summer school already, so I’m busy.” In the summer of 2006, Mary became a matriculating student at the University of Baltimore Law School majoring in Jurisprudence. Mary dreamed of becoming a lawyer. THE SHIP I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a white speck of cloud just where the sea and sky meet and mingle with each other. Then someone at my side exclaims, “There, she’s gone!” Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in hull and mast and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “She’s gone,” there are other eyes watching for her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There, she comes!” And that is dying. — Author Unknown

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Mary Sanford Williams

March 9, 1926 - October 14, 2013