Roxanne Howieson Williams was 88 and would have turned 89 on October 10th of this year. She passed away peacefully in Franklin, TN as a beloved resident at The Manor at Steeplechase on Sunday, September 9th 2018 at 12:46pm. She was born in Petawawa, Ontario in Canada as Roxanne Eleanor Howieson to Eleanor Nelda Nora Behnke Howieson and William Oliphant Howieson on October 10th 1929. She graduated from Jersey City High School and later married Fred Devoe Williams, Jr. in New York City on October 11, 1957.
Roxanne was a longtime member of Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church. She treasured this affiliation and some of her fondest memories are of travelling to Pawleys Island each summer with women from this flock. She was a medical records coder at Vanderbilt before she retired. She was interested in history, particularly early American history. Notably—during her time spent in New York, she participated in a sting operation targeting a low-level organized crime gambling ring with a group of church ladies, an adventure which was commemorated in the book The North Avenue Irregulars as well as a farcical feature film. She was a sassy character who had a fun-filled, no nonsense, down to earth perspective of life.
She is survived by her adoring younger brother, William Neldon Howieson, her daughter, Son-in-law, David George Ogilvie and granddaughter, Morgan Christine Ogilvie and grandson-in-law, Joel Rice, with whom she was particularly close.
Will Berger and Sally Hughes were the ballasts in her rich spiritual life and will be conducting her Memorial Service and celebration of her life at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church at 11:00AM on Saturday, December 29th, 2018.