Orval G. Williams

   Orval G. Williams, 85, beloved husband and father, passed away peacefully on Friday, March 10, 2017, in Vidant Chowan Hospital where he was surrounded by his family.

   Born in the fishing village of Lowland, NC in Pamlico County, NC on April 18, 1931, he was the son of the late Ervin Lee and Ora Love Bennett Williams. Known as a man of integrity, he loved the Lord, his family, and his many friends.

   An outstanding athlete in baseball, and captain of the basketball team at Hobucken High School, after serving in the U.S. Merchant Marines, he had a career in route sales and development for the snack company, Little Debbie. Rising before dawn every morning for 50 years, he retired in 1999, then continued to work part-time on his Little Debbie route for his son-in-law, Gary Brower, for another 10 years.

   Growing up on the Pamlico Sound as the son of a commercial fisherman, he had a lifelong love of the water and spent countless happy hours on the Chowan River. He loved yard work and could always be found with a plug of Red Man chewing tobacco snug in his cheek.

   A devout Christian, he was the Music Director at Immanuel Baptist Church in Edenton from 1963-1997, where he also served as a deacon and Sunday School Superintendent. For 15 years, he and his family traveled throughout eastern NC singing in local churches, and were known as ‘The Singing Williams Family’. During one summer in the early 1970s, they performed 33 times in a one-month period. More recently he had enjoyed membership in Open Door Church.

   He is survived by his loving wife of 66 years, Ruby Harris Williams; daughters, Diane Dunlow and husband Billy of Windsor, Sherry Brower and husband Gary, Corrine Twiddy and husband Mike, and Wendy Basnight and husband Scooter, all of Edenton, sons, Gary Williams and wife Sherry of Wendell, and Neal Williams and wife Tammie of Robersonville; a brother, Donald Williams and wife JoAnne of Washington; thirteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

   Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Miller Funeral Home & Crematory, 735 Virginia Road, Edenton, and will be conducted by his son, Pastor Gary Williams. Burial will follow in Beaver Hill Cemetery. Friends may join the family Monday from 6 to 7 p.m. in the funeral home, and all other times at the residence, 1402 W. Queen Street.

   Online condolences may be made by visiting www.millerfhc.com.