Lucinda Williams’ dad, Miller Williams, died at the age of 84. Miller Williams, a poet, like no other, who published more than 30 books, took part in President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, and often read with Lucinda Williams, passed away on January 1st due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Lucinda Williams‘ dad, Miller Williams, a poet, editor, and translator with a passion for animals, has died. According to a brief statement issued by Linda Sheets, a family friend, Miller Williams passed away on January 1st at the age of 84 in his home state of Arkansas.
The beloved writer passed away in a hospital in Fayetteville due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Miller Williams, was the father of Grammy-award winning folk singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, Robert Williams, and Karyn Williams.
He is also survived by his wife, Jordan Williams, three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Miller Williams, who was famous for his plain-spoken style, was a beer drinker, who shared simple stories with readers via the more than 30 books, he published in his career.
Many, he wrote, and few, he translated. His first book entitled “A Circle of Stone,” was published in 1965 and the last is “Time and the Tilting Earth: Poems” in 2008.
In between, he released “The Ways We Touch: Poems,” “Why God Permits Evil,” and “Adjusting to the Light.”
Miller Williams was the son of a preacher who eventually left the church after realizing he no longer believed in some of the scriptures.
His goal was to go to college and become a poet, but that dream was shattered by a professor who told him that he had no verbal aptitude.
In 1952, Miller Williams earned a master’s degree in zoology from the University of Arkansas, and taught Biology for numerous years in colleges in Mississippi and Louisiana.
He also sold appliances at Sears to take care of his family and fund his writing. But in the 1960’s, his passion for writing and recommendation letters from writers like Flannery O’Connor, Howard Nemerov, John Ciardi, and Richard Yates, helped him land a teaching job at the English faculty of Louisiana State University.
Williams later moved to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he taught for over 20 years. Mr Williams was also a friend of Bill Clinton, who campaigned for him during his unsuccessful 1974 congressional run.
During Clinton’s 1997 inauguration, Miller Williams read the poem “Of History and Hope.” Clinton issued a statement on the death of his friend that read:
“I will always be grateful for his friendship, which began in 1973 when we were both teaching at the University of Arkansas, and for his beautiful reading at my second inaugural. His words are as meaningful today as they were nearly 20 years ago.”
Lucinda Williams’ dad, Miller Williams’ work was featured on her last album entitled Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone.
Lucinda Williams explained that the illness made it impossible for her father to keep writing poetry, so she decided to add his words to her music in order to keep him and his work alive.
