Support Bonnie Williams' Memorial and End-of-Life Expenses

The family of Bonnie Ruth Williams is asking for donations in order to offer our beloved aunt and sister the dignified memorial and burial that she deserves and to cover end-of-life expenses.

Bonnie, guided by her deep catholic faith, believed in serving the most vulnerable and the most in need. Often at great expense to herself, she visited the elderly, the sick and the infirmed. For years as part of a catholic relief organization, she made annual trips to Haiti where she volunteered her services as a nurse, having a special affinity for and sense of kinship with the Haitian people.

Bonnie was devoted to her family. She once remarked, "there is no niece or nephew ... that I have not helped in some way." Having 13 brothers and sisters, she had quite a few nieces and nephews. When she was thanked, she would often say "just pay it forward!" She was a model of generosity and gave selflessly of herself seeking nothing in return.

A few years ago, tragedy struck when a fire ravaged Bonnie’s home, destroying many irreplaceable possessions and causing great financial strain. Though she would have continued to serve others through volunteerism, as many can attest, work proved to be a necessity in her last years as she recovered from the devastation of the fire. In the midst of this recovery, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

Who was Bonnie Williams?

Bonnie Ruth Williams, known to some as Karimah Akilah, was born on Jan. 4th 1950, the third child of Major and Margaret Williams in Alto, Louisiana. Her formative years and early adulthood were spent in Northeast Louisiana where she attended Carroll High School (then Monroe Colored High) and where she earned a masters degree in nursing from the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana University).

After earning her nursing degree, Bonnie became the first African-American nurse to integrate the medical staff at E. A. Conway Hospital (now Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport - Monroe Medical Center), one of the largest medical centers in Northeast, Louisiana.

Around 1975, Bonnie moved to Baltimore, MD where she would reside for the next 50 years. Bonnie spent over five decades as a registered nurse. As the proud daughter of Major Williams, a U.S. Navy veteran of WWII, she was honored to serve as a nurse in the Department of Veteran Affairs. She was able to serve those who, like her father, had sacrificed a great deal for their country, and who found themselves in need of the compassion, empathy, patience and respect that they had so valiantly earned.

Bonnie believed that a nurse's demeanor and bedside manner could have a great impact, for good or for ill, on the recovery of a patient. She instilled this belief in hundreds of students over decades as a teacher at Edmondson-Westside High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She was adamant that her students leave her classroom as professionals endowed with the skills needed to provide dignified care to the patients they served.

As an adult, Bonnie chose for herself the name Karimah Akilah. Karimah means "generous" and Akilah means "wise and intelligent." These names reflect her uncommon generosity and her love of learning. She also loved that her given name, Bonnie, means "beautiful."

Bonnie divided her time amongst a number of organizations. One of her most active memberships was to The Sisters In The Struggle, an association of professional African-American women founded by Dr. Myrtle Stanley in Baltimore.

Over her 75 years, Bonnie saw and accomplished a great many things and contributed to the achievements of many other people. Ever optimistic about the blessings the Lord might bestow in the future, she was proud of her roots. She often visited her native Monroe, where the summers of her youth were spent in the cotton fields of Northeast, Louisiana. She had come so far but never failed to delight in what the future might hold for her and for her loved ones.

She was preceded in death by her sisters Annie Mae Smith, Martha Daniels, Jo Ann Ota and by her brothers Major Williams Jr. and Kelvin Williams. She is grieved by her sisters Glenda James, Barbara Ann Williams, and by brothers Jimmy Dean Williams Sr., Raymond Williams, Michael Williams, Donald Williams and Kenneth Williams. She is also grieved by her nieces, nephews and many friends.