Flo Williams

Flo Jacqueline Parker Williams was born on December 5, 1932, in Bessemer, Alabama. Flo was the oldest of ten children born to the late Augusta Parker and Donald Abner Parker. Flo confessed Christ at an early age and joined the McCalla Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church and spent a lifetime of service in many capacities: Chairman of the Trustee Board, Sunday School Teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, Member of the Usher Board, Member of the Missionary Society and various other positions. Flo was joined in Holy Matrimony to Sterling Williams, Sr., on February 9, 1951. To this union six children were born. Sterling preceded her in death on May 28, 2010. She attended Dunbar School and graduated from Brighton High School and Bessemer State Technical College (Lawson State Community College), where she was a member of the first nursing class. She worked as a nurse in Labor and Delivery and Same Day Surgery at Bessemer Carraway Hospital (UAB Medical West) for twenty-seven and a half years, retiring in 1995. In retirement, she focused on her church life, volunteered with the American Red Cross and fulfilled her ministry of communicating by cards, letters and for all occasions to family, friends and acquaintances. She also worked diligently at learning how to email and use Facebook. Flo made her transition from earth to heaven on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at UAB Medical West. She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Jeannine M. Wilkerson; three sisters, Laura Parker, Gwendolyn (Henry) Crenshaw, and Carolyn Hoskins; two brothers, Donald (Marion) Parker and Willie G. Parker. Memories will be cherished by: her children, Carol (Lonnie) Cockrell, Bessemer, Michael (Lorene) Williams, Columbus, Georgia, Ronald Williams, McCalla, Andrea (Barnard) Montgomery, Bessemer, and Sterling Williams Jr., McCalla; one sister, M. Jean Norwood, South Ozone Park, New York; three brothers, Augustus Parker, Chicago, Illinois, Buford (Gale) Parker, Bessemer, Alabama, and Ralph (Carolyn) Parker, Chelsea, Alabama; fifteen grandchildren, Staff Sergeant Anissa Bolden, Fort Shafter, Honolulu, Hawaii, Dana Cockrell, Birmingham, Jackie (Rashawnda) Williams, Warren, Michigan, Lonnie Cockrell, Jr., Layton, Utah, Michael (Veronica) Montgomery, Powder Springs, Georgia, Brandon Williams, Columbus, Georgia, Herbert (DeShunn) Wilkerson, Trussville, Alabama, Robert (Tovjivanese) Wilkerson, Selma, Alabama, LaNita Woods, Birmingham, Eric Kelley, Bessemer, Alabama, Aisha Williams, Nashville, Tennessee, Catharine Montgomery, Atlanta, Georgia, Timothy Williams, Columbus, Georgia, Erica Heard, and Sterling Williams III, Lithonia, Georgia; eleven great-grandchildren, Mykal Danielle, Jasmine, Jadon, Ja'Liyah, Akelah, Joseph, Jackson, Jordan, Jonathan, Tatum, and DeKota; sisters-in-law, Sarah Stocker and Frozene (Ollie) Jones, both of Los Angeles, California; adopted sisters, Willie Hunter and Willie Nell Wilson; special cousin, Percy Sanders; and many other relatives and friends.