She was fortunate to have received exceptional care from the efficient and compassionate nurses and staff at the Troy Community Hospital and from an extraordinary group of kind and patient local caregivers over the last fourteen months for which she and her family are forever grateful.
Louise was born November 16, 1922 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania to Joseph G. Eadie and Susan Eva (Raker) Eadie. As a child she was a member of the Lutheran Church, became an accomplished singer, was in high school plays, chorus and choirs and excelled academically. She graduated from Shamokin High School in 1940 and entered Cornell University the same year where she met Evan S. Williams (she always referred to him as her “boyfriend”) who was to become her husband of 62 years until his death in 2005.
Louise and Evan married on December 24, 1943, a few months prior to her graduation from Cornell, while Evan was in the Army Air Corps training to become a B-17 bomber pilot. In 1945, carrying her newborn son in a market basket, she traveled alone by train to be with her husband during his training in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
After the War Louise and Evan returned to Ithaca to finish his education at Cornell Law School after which they moved to his hometown of Troy, Pennsylvania where Louise was a home economics teacher, Evan began his law practice and they raised their family.
They traveled to and through most of the states and many countries in Europe, South America, North America and to China. They attended frequent reunions of Evan’s bomber crew at many widespread locations in the United States.
Louise was a member of the Methodist Church in Troy, was the Superintendent of the Sunday School and taught Sunday School there for many years. She was a long standing member of the Thursday Study Club where she made many lifelong friends.
Louise will be remembered by friends and family for the strength of her character, her optimistic attitude, the value she placed on hard work and accomplishment, and her devotion to her family. She will be remembered, as well, for her independent spirit, her interest in wanting to participate in anything in which any members of her family were involved, her strength perseverance and absence of complaint in dealing with 14 months of frustration after her strokes in 2018, her curiosity about all things, her personal research in subjects of interest to her, and her incredibly open mind.
We will all miss her insightful observations, her surprising knowledge of archaic, futuristic, esoteric, spiritual and complex subjects and her thoughtful and worthwhile advice.
Louise was predeceased by her parents, her husband, and her sister, Marion McWilliams, her brother in-law, CQ McWilliams, her brother-in-law, Dick Barr, and her grandson-in-law, Edward Horvath.
She is survived by her four children Evan, Barbara, Sue and Lorie and their spouses. Also surviving her are Evan’s children Wendy Sbrollini (Jay) and Evan Williams, Ill (Tricia), Barbara’s children Lesley White Horvath, Don White, Jr. (Kristin), Aaron White, and Brownwyn White Herb (Greg), Sue’s children Jessica Welty Knight (Jeff) and Matthew Welty (Leah), and Lorie’s children Ali Krasner and Drew Krasner. Also surviving are twenty-one great grandchildren, a niece Dawn Kotanchick and nephew CQ McWilliams, her sister-in-law Jean Barr and her children John Dick Barr and Suzanne Clemens.
Her family will miss her deeply and while they mourn her loss they are grateful for her life and for her impact on and contribution to their lives.
A memorial service will be held in the spring at a time and place to be determined. The Gerald W. Vickery, Jr. Funeral & Cremation Services, Inc. Troy, PA has been trusted with the arrangements.
The family will provide flowers. In lieu of flowers, Memorials may be directed to the Troy Area School District Foundation at 58 Fenner Avenue, Troy, PA 16947 or the Troy Community Hospital for the benefit of the nursing staff and rehabilitation personnel or the charity of one’s choice. Send Condolences At: VickeryFH.com.