wfn.org | Prominent clergywoman Tallulah Fisher Williams dies at 45

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 21, 1999  News media contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71B{341}

By Linda Rhodes*

CHICAGO (UMNS) -- The Rev. Tallulah Fisher Williams, a United Methodist
clergy woman and leader in the denomination, died suddenly of heart failure
at 1:30 a.m. June 20, in Evanston (Ill.) Hospital. She was 45.

She had been admitted to the hospital on June 18 with pneumonia.

Williams had led several Chicago-area churches as a pastor, and was known
throughout the denomination as a leader of Black Methodists for Church
Renewal (BMCR). She also was a director of the churchwide Board of Pension
and Health Benefits, and she was beginning her fourth year as superintendent
of the Chicago Northwestern District. 

She had just been elected a Northern Illinois clergy delegate to General
Conference, the United Methodist Church's top lawmaking body, which will
meet in May 2000 in Cleveland. She was elected on the first ballot during
voting at the Northern Illinois Annual Conference session that met in DeKalb
June 5-8, and was elected by the delegation to be its vice-chair.

Harriett McCabe, laywoman from Naperville, Ill., and chairwoman of the
delegation, said Williams would have been elected chairwoman of the
delegation had it not been a layperson's turn. Traditionally, the chair of
the delegation alternates between lay and clergy for each session of General
Conference. Williams had been a delegate to General Conference in 1996, and
was a delegate to North Central Jurisdictional Conference in 1984 and 1992.

She had also recently been chosen by her fellow district superintendents to
serve as dean of the cabinet, effective Sept. 1.

"The Northern Illinois family is deeply grieving the loss of one of its
beloved leaders," said Bishop C. Joseph Sprague. "Her commitment to
excellence is legendary, and her influence on her peers was evidenced by her
election to the General Conference delegation on the first ballot and by her
recent election as dean of the cabinet. The loss leaves a gaping hole in the
leadership of the conference, and we mourn her loss most profoundly."

Sprague will officiate at the memorial service for Williams at 11 a.m., June
26, at First United Methodist Church, 1630 Hinman Ave. in Evanston.
Visitation will be from 10 to 11 a.m. at the church. Burial will be in
Lincoln Cemetery in Worth, Ill.

A native of Chicago, Williams was born Aug. 28, 1953. She attended Chicago
public schools and graduated from North Central College in Naperville. She
earned her master of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological
Seminary in Evanston, and her doctor of ministry degree from Chicago
Theological Seminary.

While growing up in Chicago, she participated in BMCR as a youth in high
school. In the 1980s, she served as president of Chicago BMCR and then
continued to work as program chairwoman for BMCR in the North Central
Jurisdiction. From 1993 to 1996, she was chairwoman of the national BMCR
after having been vice chairwoman since 1989.

At the time of her death, she was on the board of directors of the
conference's United Methodist Foundation and was a governing member of the
Board of Pension and Health Benefits. She was a former trustee of
Garrett-Evangelical.

During her ministry she was many "firsts" in the Northern Illinois
Conference, including the first woman of color to be a district
superintendent, the first black clergy woman appointed to a large black
United Methodist church, and the first African-American woman pastor to be
appointed to a predominately white suburban church. She was the second
African-American woman ever ordained in the Northern Illinois Conference.

"Tallulah was a pioneer, breaking through racial and gender barriers all of
her ministry," said the Rev. Deborah Fisher, Aurora District superintendent
and dean of the cabinet. "Many leaders across the church hoped and expected
that she would be the first African-American clergy woman to be elected
bishop in the North Central Jurisdiction" of the United Methodist Church.

Williams had served Vincent United Methodist Church, St. Mark United
Methodist Church (associate pastor), Southlawn United Methodist Church, and
Hartzell United Methodist Church, all in Chicago; and Trinity United
Methodist Church in Mt. Prospect.

"Tallulah's death is a great personal loss because she was a good friend as
well as a colleague," Fisher said. "She was one who was compassionate as
well as understanding. It's going to be a tremendous loss for the church."

Williams is survived by her mother, Mary Fisher; two brothers, two sisters
and numerous other close relatives.
# # #
 *Rhodes is communications director for the United Methodist Church's
Northern Illinois Annual Conference.

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472