Jaconette Davis Williams

Williams-Jaconette “Jackie” Davis Williams was born in Selma, Louisiana, Grant Parish on January 27, 1930. She died at the age of 80 on April 23, 2010 in Canton, Georgia. She came to Atlanta in 1950 to work for Delta Airlines after graduation from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana with a BA in Fine Arts and a minor in American History. She met her beloved husband, Walton S. Williams, in Atlanta where he was assigned as an Army officer after graduation from the University of Mississippi. They married on September 29, 2951 and remained happily married for 50 years until his death in 2001. They had two children, a daughter, Sharard Williams and a son, Brandon Williams, who has two daughters, Anna Williams, age 19 and Sarah Williams, age 14. Jackie was a teacher, an artist, a master gardener, and has been lecturing on topics related to colonial American History and the Decorative Arts, Folk Crafts and Herb Gardening in the Atlanta area since 1962. As a fine arts and American History major in college, her interest in these areas was expanded when she and her husband spent ten years employed by Colonial Williamsburg in VA. While in Williamsburg she studied 18th century decorative art and received 50 hours of instruction in these areas before working as a hostess in the historic buildings. The Williams’ restored an older house in Williamsburg and used herbs in the garden in an authentic way. Jackie was a Master Gardener and considered herself a “grass roots” person. She was in the first Master Gardener class held on 1979 which was taught by the University of GA extension services with UGA professors in each discipline represented and included 50 hours of study in the plant sciences. The Garden Club of Georgia annually presents a State Herb award in her honor. She has been a member of the Herb Society of America for 25 years and a member of a number of historical societies. During the 1980’s she donated her talents as an herb gardener to the Tullie Smith House located at the Atlanta Historical Center. In 1983, in Kansas City, Missouri, she had the honor of speaking to the annual meeting of the National Council of Garden Clubs on “The Joys of Herb Gardening.” Jackie has been a member of the second oldest garden club in Sandy Springs, GA, Country Hills Garden Club since 1962. Jackie taught heritage crafts including herb gardening crafts at historic Bulloch Hall in Roswell, GA, since the inception of these classes in 1982. She was a volunteer docent at Bulloch Hall for many years and her association with Bulloch was one of the great joys of her life. She loved having the opportunity to share this lovely home’s interesting history and people with the public. She continued her entire life to be a student of American history and used her enthusiasm for history to make Bulloch’s story come alive. She felt that she had many blessings and “Hers was a life well lived.” She liked to quote the Roman Orator Marcus Tullius Cicero-“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” The memorial service will be May 16, at 2pm at the Roswell United Methodist Church, 814 Mimosa Blvd., Roswell, GA. www.rumc.com. She will be buried in Aberdeen, Mississippi, next to Walt in his ancestral cemetery. This notice will be posted on the funeral home website, www.northsidechapel.com. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Friends of Bulloch, Inc., PO Box 1309, Roswell, GA. 30077 or The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc., State Headquarters, 2450 S. Miledge Ave, Athens, GA. 30602-5817 in the donation category-“Historic Landscape and Garden Grant Programs.” Northside Chapel Funeral Directors and Crematory, Roswell, GA. 770-645-1414.

Jaconette Davis Williams

January 27, 1930 - April 23, 2010