How can we possibly ever fully thank ‘the Rev’?

The Rev. Ben Williams felt that Hilton Head Island was a “new Jerusalem” with the promise of the best the world has to offer.

And in more than 41 years of ministry on the island that ended with his death Monday, he did well more than his part to make it so.

Williams, 78, senior pastor at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church on Squire Pope Road, was by far the dean of ministers on the island. It’s hard to appreciate how hard it is to pastor a single church in a single community for that long and remain the community’s most beloved person.

Williams did it by putting others first. If one of his winsome traits stands taller than the others, it was his unfailing, smiling encouragement to others. He referred to us all as “brother” and “sister,” and regardless of age, race or creed, he treated us that way. We returned the favor by affectionately calling him “the Rev.”

He never faltered from his evangelical faith, but he was an ecumenical uniter. When the island had a ministerial alliance, Williams was always there. He made his debut as a preacher here when he led an ecumenical Easter sunrise service. He became a familiar face in other pulpits around the island, especially in community Good Friday services.

He was a mentor, role model and counselor to pastors of all stripes as they worked face-to-face with life’s greatest trials and joys.

Williams never seemed to be in a hurry, but his drive was instrumental in many community institutions. That includes the Deep Well Project, the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, the public schools, and his own church’s Achievement School for children ages 2 to 5.

He baptized countless people, always in flowing white robe in the tidal waters of Skull Creek. None of the hundreds or thousands of couples he married went to the altar without first getting his personal counseling. And among the hundreds of funerals he conducted, we are reminded of his admonition to at least one audience that he’d never seen a hearse pull up to the church pulling a U-Haul trailer full of worldly goods.

Williams also worked in the island’s public schools, most notably as the instigator and head of the in-school suspension program that kept suspended students at school rather than turning them out on the streets. There, they were his captives, forced to hear the sound, personal counseling that they, and all of us, need.

Longtime Hilton Head Island High School principal Bill Evans helped us capture what Williams meant to Hilton Head. Evans said that, when he arrived in the early 1980s from California, “Between he and Tom Barnwell, they educated me about the history of the island, pre-tourism, and more importantly about the young native islanders. When we had a shooting death in the mid-’90s of a middle school student, he was immensely helpful in calming fears and helping to bring some battling factions together. He was the one person capable of bringing adults from various communities together to help resolve the issues.

“We may never know how many young people that he spoke with during in-school suspension were forever influenced by his words and guidance. He was always there. He invited me to Mount Calvary at the beginning of every school year to address both students and, particularly, their parents. The welcome was always large and warm — a very sincere reception.”

We are thankful that Williams, a North Carolinian, married into the prominent Patterson family of Hilton Head. We mourned as he lost his wife, Elizabeth, so many years ago, when their daughter, Lucretia, was only 9 and son, Russell, was just beginning college.

Our community tried to thank Williams with awards he never sought. Somehow, now, it seems inadequate for the humble man we recognize as the best this world has to offer.

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 3:00 PM with the headline "How can we possibly ever fully thank ‘the Rev’?."