Richard Norris "Dick" Williams 2nd was born 29 January 1891 in Geneva, Switzerland to his beloved American citizen parents Mr. Charles Duane Williams and Ms. Lydia Biddle (White) Williams. Richard's father Charles was an attorney frequently engaged in European legal employment. Richard's dad Charles strongly respected the French and Swiss people and regarded these lands as special places, truly a second homeland. Richard's namesake and paternal uncle, the full brother of his dad Charles is Richard Norris Williams (1858-1918). The preponderance of written sources show Richard as a paternal 4th Great Grandson of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. Additionally, Richard is commonly recorded in primary records as Richard Norris Williams using several different suffix including Jr., II, 2d, 2nd, and Second, but his name is NEVER recorded in primary records as R. Norris Williams II as wrongly cited in his Find A Grave Memorial page. As a Harvard University undergrad student, Richard is frequently recorded in written Harvard publications as R. N. Williams, Jr.; whereas, Harvard publications frequently use a student first/middle initials name form. His cemetery monument is engraved Richard Norris Williams, Second.
Richard's fateful April 1912 return voyage from a European visit with his father Charles, a disastrous first-class passage was booked from England to New York City aboard RMS Titanic. The now infamous sinking of Titanic followed an iceberg collision in the late evening 14 April 1912 – truly a night to remember. Various published news reports suggest in the early morning 15 April 1912, as Titanic saw her last moments above the waves, Charles leaped into the cold North Atlantic Ocean waters. At the urging of his dad, Richard followed jumping about forty feet into the frigid ocean. One of Titanic's collapsing funnels (aka smokestacks) evidently struck and instantly killed Charles, missing Richard by only a few yards. Richard swam to one of the nearby Titanic lifeboats and sat there is the frigid waters for multiple hours. Responding to Titanic's distress calls, the RMS Carpathia navigated the ice field to arrive two hours after Titanic had sunk. The Carpathia crew rescued 705 Titanic survivors from the ship's lifeboats afloat in those icy waters. Medical staff aboard Carpathia wanted to amputate Richard's legs as he was severely frostbitten hours in hypothermia conditions, but he declined, later quoted – "I'm going to need these legs." He walked the Carpathia decks every two hours during the saddened four days trip to New York City. Eventually feeling was somewhat restored in his frostbitten legs. Richard later recalls that those four days in transit to New York City aboard Carpathia were far more traumatic than those few hours aboard the sinking Titanic. Think about it, nearly every suffering Titanic survivor had just lost one or more friends and loved ones.
Richard graduated from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Class of 1916 with the S.B. Degree (Bachelor of Science). In collegiate athletics, Richard displayed talented skills as a member and team captain in his college junior and senior years with Harvard University's winning tennis team.
Richard is a U.S. Army Veteran of World War I with overseas combat-zone service in France. His two years military active duty commenced in the spring 1917 by attending a four-week military officer training course at Plattsburgh, New York. He was commissioned an Army 2nd Lieutenant (O-1) effective 15 Aug 2017, a 1st Lieutenant (O-2) effective 10 Aug 1918, and a Captain (O-3) effective 7 Nov 1918. Richard's overseas military service unit assignments include: Headquarters 67th Field Artillery Brigade, 42nd Division; French Army 262nd Field Artillery; General Headquarters Army Expeditionary Forces, Chaumont, France; Headquarters 4th Brigade U.S. Marine Corps, 2nd Division; and Headquarters Services of Supply, Paris, France. Richard's WWI military engagements include the Chateau-Thierry Campaign, the Aisne Defensive, and the Marne-Aisne Offensive. Among Richard's various military awards are the World War I Victory Medal with multiple campaign clasps, the French Croix de Guerre Medal, and the French Legion d'Honneur Medal. English translation of the French medal citation reads - "As an example of bravery and composure, he was a valuable auxiliary to the command by carrying orders of his brigadier general in paths swept by artillery fire and saturated with gas." Captain Richard Norris Williams 2nd returned to the United States in May 1919 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on 20 May 1919 at Camp Meade, Maryland.
Richard's father began encouraging his tennis game in his preteen years. While a Harvard University undergraduate student, his pleasant personality and excellent tennis game earned him team captaincy honors in his junior (1914/15) and senior (1915/16) years. His excellent collegiate tennis play won him the 1913 and 1915 Intercollegiate singles titles and added tennis doubles titles in 1914 and 1915. The outstanding athlete Richard was half of the Gold Medal winning mixed doubles tennis pairing at the 1924 Paris, France Olympic Games, as coupled with a strongly capable partner Ms. Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman. Later, Richard became a highly successful professional tennis player, and ultimately won five of seven Davis Cup tournaments, serving as U.S. Davis Cup Team Captain during his successful professional tennis career. Richard was later honored with election to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, Rhode Island, Class of 1957. The Tennis Hall of Fame website may be viewed by those wishing more information on Richard's stellar tennis achievements. His Hall of Fame biography states, "The sum of Williams' career was daunting: He made the world's Top 10 from 1912-14 and 1919-23. In the U.S. alone he was ranked in the Top 10 all but one year from 1912-25." New York Times tennis sportswriter Allison Danzig remarks, "At his best he was unbeatable, and more dazzling than Tilden." Richard continued his love of tennis and retained gifted athletic prowess in his later years, this evidenced by winning many local and regional tennis matches as reported in major and regional newspapers throughout the 1930s-1950s.
Richard's lifelong employment is variously reported in business finance activity by multiple primary records, first in bond sales with a Boston firm, as a senior stock broker with a Philadelphia firm, and later in Pennsylvania-based investment banking activity.
In 1919 Richard married the local beauty Ms. Jean Haddock, the daughter of Mr. Arthur Henry Haddock and Mrs. Matilda (Steward) Haddock in New York City Christian ceremonies. The happy couple is blessed with two sons Duane Williams and Richard N. Williams III. Jean's untimely passing in 1929, aged 38 years, was due to cancer. In 1930 Richard remarries the twenty-two year old socialite Ms. Frances West Hemsley Gillmore in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the daughter of Mr. Quincy Adams Gillmore and Mrs. Frances West Hemsley Gillmore. The couple is blessed with a son Quincy Adams Williams and a daughter Frances Sue Williams. The happy thirty-eight year marriage to Frances ends with Richard's untimely passing in June 1968, aged 77 years. Richard's widowed second wife Frances passed away in 2001.
