Stephen A. Williamson
October 21, 1949 ~ November 24, 2018
Stephen A. Williamson, Ph.D., 69, former Danvers School Committee member and local psychologist, died Saturday, Nov. 24, at the Ledgewood Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center as a result of stroke complications.
Born in Springfield, Ohio, the son of Mary (Pauley) Williamson and the late Roger Williamson, Stephen was a stellar student athlete and a 1967 graduate of Springfield South High School. After graduation, he furthered his education at Brown University and Harvard University Graduate School where he earned his doctorate degree in social psychology.
After school, he settled in the Danvers area with his wife, Susan (Zink) Williamson, with whom he recently celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary. He worked for several companies as a management consultant and eventually worked independently until his retirement. For many years, he served on the Danvers School Committee and was active in local issues. He loved coaching his children in soccer and following them in all of their sporting endeavors. He was able to enjoy a few years following his granddaughter in soccer, which brought him great joy.
In addition to his wife, he leaves his children, Nicholas Williamson and his wife Jessica (Dion) and Lindsay Demsey and her husband Mike, all of Danvers; his grandchildren, Skylar and Finnegan Demsey and Evey and Natalie Williamson; his sisters, Jodie Noffke and her husband Todd of Springfield, Ohio, and Deborah Weathers of Manchester, NH; also his brother-in-law, George Zink and his wife Jackie of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and many nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours are Wednesday, November 28, 2018 from 4-7PM in C.R. Lyons & Sons Funeral Directors, 28 Elm St., Danvers Square. Relatives and friends are invited. Funeral Services and burial will be held in Springfield, OH. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Danvers People-to-People Food Pantry, P.O. Box 2076, Danvers, MA 01923.
View current weather.
Memories Timeline
Guestbook
Sign the Guestbook, Light a Candle
Many thoughts & prayers to all of you. I will truly miss Steve & his contagious smile. May he rest easy. ~Nurse Heather
Susan, I am very sorry for your loss. I have thought about you and Steve over the years. I met Steve in 4th grade when we returned from Japan – we became friends; we competed to be first in math. When we returned from New Jersey six years later, I ended up sitting next to Steve in 10th grade Biology – he remembered me and we again became friends. He was a great leader then and I expect the same for the rest of his life. I will continue to remember him as a friend and with respect. Eric Wagner
Steve and I met at Brown where we both joined the same fraternity, Phi Delta Beta. We were both “student athletes” who had played a lot of sports in high school, so needless to say, the two of us formed a closer bond over the Phi Delt intramurals. At a deeper level, Steve was part of what was my “inner circle” of friends at Phi Delt… and we both contributed to an internal movement to substantially change and re-orient the “hazing/pledge rituals” that had previously followed more traditional, if not uncomfortable hazing practices. It took some subtle negotiating and interesting application of the Parliamentary procedures to get these change implemented in what had been a more traditional fraternity hazing system.
Steve was a REALLY hard worker at Brown, and it was frequently difficult to drag him away from the books just to hang out for a few hours. He was a RIGOROUS and dedicated student and thinker… thorough… single minded. He always took the more interesting and challenging path including immersing himself, as a funky white boy, in a deep South, black college sabbatical at Tougaloo College in Mississippi, a university that Brown had and active exchange program with at the time. I have to say that it took someone of strong personal integrity and conviction to take on this task in the midst of what was then a cultural revolution and growing militancy in the black community. Most of us would have wilted in the adversity But that was Steve. He was one of the smartest, most forthright, and rugged individualists I have ever known.
We have stayed in touch over the years, one of a handful of my fellow Brown students that held a special place in that hallowed space I call friendship. A fraternity of people you count on one hand. I have grown to know and love his lovely wife Susan who frequently ended up fielding my phone calls when Steve’s health issues just left him too uncomfortable to even come to the phone. And then, there are his lovely kids, Nick and Lindsey, who have both visited and stayed with me in California, and who I have also had the privileged of getting to know a bit over the years, My wife and I even did baby sitting duty one time when Lindsey came to California for a friends wedding.
The last few years have been difficult as Steve’s medical problems have been overwhelming. I did manage a last visit a year ago September, and our other two fraternity brothers, Dave Tillson and Don Leff were able to join us in Boston.
It is with heavy heart, but no small number of fond memories that I say goodbye to my dear friend. I can only be happy he has transitioned beyond the pain and discomfort he has know on a non-stop basis for far too long. He started on a high plane and has transitioned even higher.
With deep love and affection for my Brother in the Bond…………..Norm Swanberg
This was taken at the Lake house in Sunapee ,Sept. 2011
A sympathy card was purchased for the family of Stephen A. Williamson.