WILLIAMS, ISABEL (MCANULTY) WILLIAMS, 90 OF WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA FORMERLY OF BLAIRSVILLE, PA
died on February 24, 2012 at her home in West Lafayette, Indiana. She was born February 8, 1922. A fifth-generation resident of Blairsville, she kept the house she grew up in and traveled "back home" many times. Her most recent visit to her Blairsville home was last summer. Mrs. Williams' great-great grandparents, Samuel McAnulty and Mary Mooney McAnulty, came to Blairsville in 1818 and were present November 11 of that year at the initial sale of lots that soon became Blairsville. The parcel Samuel purchased was called McAnulty's Meadows. Samuel and Mary built the Exchange Hotel on the Diamond in Blairsville in 1822, and it was considered to be the finest inn between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The building was demolished in 1967. Mrs. Williams' grandfather, James Wilson McAnulty, was burgess of Blairsville, and her father, Charles Augustus McAnulty, was President of the Young Men's Volunteer Fire Co. for twenty consecutive years beginning in 1920. Mrs. Williams was a member of the local William Kenly chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Dr. Theodore J. Williams, Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Purdue University. Dr. and Mrs. Williams were both graduates of the Blairsville High School class of 1940, and were married at SS. Simon and Jude on July 18, 1946. She is also survived by her children: Theodore J. Williams, Jr. & wife Sherri of Saint Louis; Mary Williams Lenehan & husband Michael of Chicago; Charles Augustus Williams & wife Jody of West Lafayette, Indiana; and Elizabeth McPherson & husband Neil of Laramie, Wyoming; eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She will be buried out of SS. Simon and Jude, the parish that her great-great grandfather, Samuel McAnulty, attended. In the Winter, 1985 issue of Indiana County Heritage, Mrs. Williams wrote a piece entitled, "Blairsville: A Place of Consequence." She ended the piece by saying that Blairsville has been "deeply loved by her old families--even to the extent of the desire...that they be brought back home from their wanderings for their long last rest on the hill." The Family will receive friends on Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. A wake service will be held on Wednesday evening at 8:30 PM in the Funeral Home. A Funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 10:00 AM in SS Simon & Jude Church, Blairsville. Fr. Chester J. Raimer willl officiate. Interment will be in the Blairsville Cemetery, Blairsville, PA.
|
