Potomac — Meredith G. Williams, Jr., CDR USNR retired, died on June 29, 2012 at the age of 88. Born in Weymouth, Mass. he has resided in the Washington, D.C. area since 1956.
He graduated from Bridgewater (Mass.) High School; class valedictorian, then attended Bates College earning a B.S. in physics (Class of 1944) and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Navy Pre-Radar training at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology followed.
During WWII, Meredith was assigned as electronics repair officer to the Pacific Fleet on the USS Yosemite, a destroyer tender stationed in Sasebo Harbor, Japan. In 1947, Meredith returned to civilian life and was first hired as an oceanographic technician at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. He entered civil service as oceanographer, then physicist in 1948 for the research section of the Sonar Branch, Bureau of Ships where had a rewarding 32-year career with the U.S. Navy Department, retiring in 1984 as head of the Nucleonics Branch.
A resident of Potomac since 1971, Meredith lived a life of civic activism serving in various capacities on the boards of the West Montgomery County Citizens Association, Potomac Glen Association, the Glen Preservation Foundation, where he helped save the one-lane bridges in “The Glen,” and the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. He was also on the board of Friends of the Library and for several years contributed toward the book sale program that supports the Potomac Library.
His hobbies included “amateur landscaping,” Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and solving complex math problems. As a wordsmith, Meredith created the word “bacronym” in 1970. Bacronym can be found on Wikipedia.org and Wiktionary.org. In April 2012, the word was used on the television show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” as a multiple choice answer.
A loving, caring, and devoted husband, father, grandfather, and father-in-law, Meredith is survived by his wife of 56 years, Eleanor; three daughters; Nancy (Tom) Madden of Potomac, Lisa (Bill) Calvert of Charlotte, N.C., and Jennifer (Patrick) Monahan of Hershey, Pa., nine grandchildren: David Madden; Sarah and James Calvert; Ricky, Emily, and Sara Williams; Alan, Jamison, and Kellan Monahan. He is also survived by one brother and one sister. Meredith was predeceased by his son, Timothy Williams, two brothers and a sister; his youngest brother died three weeks after Meredith.
Family and friends are invited to a visitation on Tuesday, Aug. 14 from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at Robert A. Pumphrey Funeral Home, 300 W. Montgomery Ave, Rockville. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his honor to the “Friends of the Library,” 10101 Glenolden Dr., Potomac, MD 20854 or to the West Montgomery County Citizens Association (WMCAA), PO Box 59335, Potomac, MD 20859-9335.