Slain Hilton Head teen remembered as gifted musician, charismatic friend
The songs brought them to their feet, the memories moved them to tears and the prayers helped them understand.
But for the hundreds in attendance at Grace Community Church to remember slain Hilton Head Island teen Dominique Williams, Saturday's service was anything but mournful.
Instead, the standing room-only crowd reveled in the moments they had with Williams and the dreams of a future taken away from the exuberant teenager with a gift for music and playing the drums.
When Williams moved to Pooler, Ga., last year to attend high school in Savannah, he had three dreams: to do better in school, make his school's football team and become to a better drummer than Tony Royster Jr., a famous drummer Williams idolized who had played with Jay-Z, his stepmother Olga Williams said.
Williams had accomplished two of those goals and was well on his way to the third one when he was shot and killed at Coligny Beach Park on July 19, nine days after he celebrated his 17th birthday.
Music, as many of the speakers Saturday said, was one of his passions.
His preschool teacher, Mary Green, recounted how Williams could switch from church hymns to songs by Mystikal in an instant at an early age, much to the chagrin of her and the other teachers.
The teen played drums at two area churches -- Central Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church and Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church -- and was called a pillar of the local youth ministry at both churches, his mentor Alex Brown said.
During the service, Williams' aunt, Shantell Nimmons, played a drum medley in her nephew's honor.
His obituary, read by Rose Knighton during the three-hour ceremony, described Williams as a "tenacious musician with a caring and loving heart" who attended the Hilton Head Island Jazz Camp and the South Carolina Baptist Congress State Conference.
"His music skills embodied the spirit of a little drummer boy with a kindred soul devoted to his family and friends," Knighton read.
Knighton thanked Williams' parents, Rudy Milton and Leroy Williams, for raising a kind, well-mannered boy with an infectious smile and a love of entertaining.
"To Rudy, Leroy and family, thank you so much for sharing him with us," she said. "God needed an angel in heaven to fill that drummer's seat."
In addition to the family members and churchgoers who attended Saturday's service, classmates and friends from both Hilton Head High School and R.W. Groves High School in Savannah packed the auditorium in Williams' honor.
Two of them, football teammates Leron Corbin and DeAndre Jones, were called on to speak during the ceremony about the friend they affectionately called "Domi." Jones spoke briefly, while Corbin could not contain his tears long enough to speak.
"He was charismatic and optimistic," Jones said. "He had the brightest smile and the brightest shoes."
After the ceremony, Corbin said he and his teammates would carry Williams in their hearts, playing the upcoming season in his memory. Another teammate, Tae'ron Corbin, decried the senselessness of Williams' death.
"It wasn't necessary for him to die," he said before walking back into the arms of his teammates.
Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.
This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Slain Hilton Head teen remembered as gifted musician, charismatic friend."