Paul Cobin Williams

Paul Williams was a quiet, introspective thinker who loved his family and was always game for adventure.

Like the time he rode in the pilot seat of a glider plane as it soared into the sky tethered to another plane. When the planes reached 10,000 feet, the glider was unhooked and he piloted the plane to safety. It was his first time manning a glider plane.

“He only told me after he did it because he knew I would be mad and say ‘It’s too dangerous’,” recalls his wife of 36 years, Oralandar Brand-Williams. “He loved adventure.”

His adventurous streak took him to the slopes of Breckinridge Ski Resort in Colorado and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada, places where he and his older brother Grady loved to ski. It also led to his love of travel to places such as Paris, Italy, and the Caribbean.

In addition to skiing and traveling, he loved riding bicycles and motorcycles, sketching, boating and camping.

“His brother Grady a referred to him as ‘Joe Camp’,” his wife said. “He had every size camping tent and endless supplies of camping equipment and gadgets that made being in the outdoors fun.”

Mr. Williams died of cancer at his home in his wife’s arms on Saturday morning, June 20, 2020. He was 61 years old.

Mr. Williams was born on Nov. 30, 1958, to Rodgers and Katie Williams. He was a lifelong Detroit native.

He graduated from Detroit’s Central High School where he met his wife while working as a stagehand in the high school’s auditorium.

“I was struck by his kind face,” Mrs. Brand-Williams recalled.”He always reminded me of (actor) Clifton Davis. He definitely had Hollywood good looks. He was always being mistaken for Clifton Davis or Johnny Mathis.”

They were married at St. Cecilia’s Church in Detroit in 1984.

“I was definitely the yin to his yang,” his wife said. “We were opposites. That’s what made us so special.”

He attended Oakland University where he studied business and accounting. During his time in college, he was a leader of the NAACP campus chapter and he was involved in the college’s theater department.

While in college, he began his career in facilities management when he accepted a position at Mount Carmel Hospital in Detroit. He later went to work at Hutzel Hospital where he was the assistant director of environmental services. During his employment there, he was a member of the Hutzel Men’s Guild. He also coached a basketball team at the hospital and implemented an annual MLK observance in memory of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He left Hutzel to become director of environmental services at Harper/Detroit Medical Center.

Wanting to become his own boss, he formed his company American Facility Services. His clients included Ford Motor Co. During his career, he also worked for major contractors, including national firms Service Master and Ogden.

Outside of work, Mr. Williams enjoyed spending time with his wife and family with whom he loved to play the card game Bid Whist.

“He saw family as being extremely important,” his wife said. He often encouraged his nieces and nephews to be their best. He showered his wife with gifts and compliments. On Sunday mornings, you could find him settled in his easy chair engrossed in the talk shows and political commentaries. He’d often write columns about the issues of the day. He also loved to sketch and was a math whiz.

He shared his love of math with others.

“It came easy to him. He could explain math to people who struggled with math,” his wife said. “He would give tutorial sessions to adults who were struggling and needed additional help to prepare for a job or school exam. He was well-suited to be a math teacher or lawyer.”

Although he was baptized as a child, he decided to be baptized again as an adult at The Church of Christ in Detroit.

His willingness to help others never wavered. During his illness, Mr. Williams participated in experimental clinical trials.
“He thought of how others could beat this insidious cancer. I remember him saying ‘If I don’t make it, I want to be able to help others’,” his wife said.

"He was a thinker. He preferred the quietness of any situation. He had a smile that could light up a room,” his wife said. Most of all, he was very unconventional, she added.

“He never wanted to be put in a box of anyone else’s expectations. He was one of the smartest men I knew. The way he looked at things and analyzed things. He’d tell you to think things through. Don’t just look at the issues.”

In addition to his wife Oralandar, he is survived by siblings Donald William (Ann) Williams, Cathy Williams, Grady Williams, Vanessa Williams, Barbara Williams Clark, , Evelyn Vaughn (Erwin) , Barry Williams, Nancy Williams, and a host of nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, grand-nephews, and friends. He is preceded in death by his parents, Rodgers and Katie Williams and siblings Missouri Williams, Phyllis Williams, Betty Price and Rodgers Williams Jr. His sister-in-law Cynetta Williams also preceded him in death in April 2019.

The funeral for Mr. Williams will be Saturday, June 27, 2020, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Detroit. Burial will be in Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery in Clinton Township, Michigan.

The family asks that memorial tributes go to Hospice of Michigan, the NAACP, or the American Cancer Society.