CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — On Sunday funeral services are scheduled for 78-year-old Herbert Williams, the man killed after a tree fell on his car in Clayton County during Tuesday’s storms.
People who knew and loved him gathered for a vigil outside his store, Sound Decisionz, Saturday evening.
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“I thank God that he was here for 78 years,” said his wife, Dorothy Williams.
She said her husband was driving to work in the Tuesday morning rain when a massive tree crashed into his car on Highway 54 at Jenni Ln.
“That particular tree, we had been watching it together, me and my husband. And when he’d come to work, he said they need to cut that tree down. It’s leaning, and he said that’s a sad way to go. I hope I never experience a tree falling on me,” said Williams. “That’s why it hurt me so bad.”
Family, friends, customers, and city leaders gathered for his vigil. They told Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco he was a pillar of Clayton County, an inspiration who was always willing to mentor others.
“He wouldn’t want us to stop,” said his daughter, Kathy Butler. “So, we’re going to keep going, just pressing forward. That’s what we do.”
Loved ones placed a large cross in the spot where Williams died.
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“I have to pass the site every day, everywhere I go,” said his widow.
She said it’s now her mission to shine a light on other trees at risk of falling and alert County leaders before it’s too late for someone else.
“I’m going to do that for him because he would do it for me.”
Tuesday will mark their 59th wedding anniversary.
Williams’ funeral is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Center of Hope Ministries in Riverdale.
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