Last Updated on 12/4/2008

Published on 8/28/2008
Written by Tommy Howard

Sunday is Mack Williams' last day with Mayer Funeral Home. At 70 years of age, the long-time funeral director is ready for a change of pace.

It was almost 50 years ago when the young fellow, who "didn't know a soul in Georgetown," came to talk with the late Bob Mayer about a job.

Not yet 21 years old, "Mr. and Mrs. Mayer took me in and helped raise me," he said in a Tuesday interview with the Georgetown Times.

A junior at The Citadel, Williams realized college wasn't where he wanted to be. His dad was in an accident.

"I told my daddy I was going to Georgetown and get a job in the funeral business," he said.

Mayer said he hadn't had very good experiences with apprentices and would let him know. Williams gave it a week and went back to see Mayer.

At the time, he was dating a girl from Andrews. People he met through her, and in Charleston, said the Mayer family operated their business well.

He started as an apprentice on Feb. 16, 1959. He went to Dallas to a mortuary college two years later, with no promise of a job when he returned.

"Mr. Mayer became ill. When I came back, he hired me back on. I've been here ever since.

"I love this family," Williams continued. "They've been good to me. I love Georgetown County."

Georgetown has been his home for 50 years. He married in Georgetown, and his wife died here in December 2000. His son graduated from Georgetown High School and The Citadel, and now lives in Irmo near Columbia with his wife and two boys, 8 and 4 years of age.

During the early years of his time with Mayer Funeral Home, the business had two ambulances. There was no county Emergency Services Department or ambulance service until the mid-1960s. The Winyah Rescue Squad and Civil Defense later provided some emergency service, though that was before the Rescue Squad was chartered in 1973.

Johnny Broach was county coroner, and Williams learned in 1975 that Broach didn't plan to see reelection the next year. Williams ran in 1976 and took office in 1977. He was reelected four times.

"After 20 years, I decided two jobs were more than I wanted to do. It was good, though." He served through 1996, and he and his wife had three good years without the dual job demands. "Then, she had a bout with cancer."

Wonderful experience

Williams, reflecting on his time with Mayer Funeral Home, said "It's been a busy 50 years. It was a wonderful experience for me. The people of Georgetown have welcomed me with open arms."

He observed that there are two kinds of Georgetonians: "Bin yahs" and "Come yahs."

A Bin yah is a person who was born and grew up in the area.

"After this many years, this is home," Williams said.

He was born and raised in Monks Corner, graduating from Berkeley High School in 1956.

While he was in Dallas at mortuary college, his father was killed in an auto accident in May 1961. He came back to South Carolina for a week, returned to Dallas to finish his education, and returned to Georgetown in 1962. He met his wife and the couple was married in 1964.

"All these years, I have just felt like I have found my niche. I'm comfortable here," Williams said as he sat in an upstairs room where he would talk with family members about their loved ones.

He's been active in Georgetown Presbyterian Church, with the funeral home family and with folks in Georgetown.

"At 70 years old, I hope to have the opportunity to do some of the things I haven't had an opportunity to do during my working lifetime," Williams said.

He's got a woodworking shop and likes to do that.

He will be moving to Mount Pleasant where he's "met a fine lady there who is a grandmother." They want to travel, and he wants to be able to spend more time with his son's family in Irmo.

He's done a little hot-air ballooning and really enjoys the serenity.

He tried to make a flight when in San Francisco several years ago, but weather forced a cancellation. In 2007, he and his friend made a flight while in Denver.

"I would do that again. The only thing you hear is the burner on the balloon. You just float along. It's an amazing experience."

Why funeral business?

"I've never been able to say why I got into the funeral business. It's just something I wanted to do," Williams said. "I never regretted it.

"It's an opportunity to make a decent living and meet wonderful people. I help people get through one of the bad times in their lives."

While he had to learn embalming and other techniques and legalities at mortuary college, "Most of what I have learned in the funeral business, I have learned on the job."

"The main thing in the funeral business is your action and reaction with people you serve."

People have different needs when they have to deal with the death of a loved one. "I have tried to treat our clients the way I would want to be treated in the same circumstances," he said.

While death is serious, Williams said he's never tried to treat it as a macabre business.

He enjoys the comedian Jerry Clower, who tells family-clean jokes and routines, including one about sitting up with the dead and another about a football player at a banquet before a bowl game.

The players all have to wear tuxedos with bow ties. One player doesn't know how to tie the bow tie and sees a little fellow coming towards him who's dressed nicely. The football player asked for help, the little guy trips him, makes him fall onto the floor, sits on his chest and starts to do up the bow tie.

Naturally, the ball player wonders what's going on. "I'm an undertaker, the little fellow says. The only way I know how to tie a tie is with you laying down."

In dealing with people, Williams said, some handle the loss with humor, remembering good times, some are sad and there is a whole range of emotion.

"All of us will face this experience. I feel strongly that people who are assisting us with it can do a lot to make us more comfortable in facing what we are having to go through."

It's important for people to share good thoughts and memories, Williams said.

"Sometimes, the way they have faced adversity can help you remember how they dealt with it," he continued.

Coroner

One case in particular comes to mind from his 20 years as county coroner.

A young man was found shot to death in a patch of woods in the Murrells Inlet area. He and the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office investigated. There was no identification with the body.

An autopsy was performed at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and a description of the man was put on the NCIC (National Crime Information Center).

The body stayed at MUSC for about six to eight years, Williams said, with no once claiming the remains.

MUSC finally asked him to get the body out of their morgue. Georgetown County bought a space in Elmwood Cemetery, and Williams asked his minister at Georgetown Presbyterian Church to have a burial service.

About five years later, someone called from the Sheriff's Office. A man in the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department was transferred from the patrol division to the detective division. He was learning how to use the NCIC system and found the description of the young man.

Williams and the Georgetown Sheriff's Office sent dental records and came up with a positive I.D. on him.

Later, the young man's father and mother came to Georgetown. "I took them to the cemetery, and found out they were devout Catholics. I took them to St. Mary's Catholic Church. The priest came back and consecrated the grave."

Williams said the parents were so satisfied and comfortable with how things were handled that they left their son at Elmwood Cemetery. They ordered a grave marker and left in place, too, the one marking him as an unknown person.

Over the following years, the parents came back to Georgetown several times to visit their son's grave.

"To have people come back to you afterwards, and say 'Mack, thank you. You helped us get through this,' is about all you can ask for."

Williams said he's made some mistakes over the years, where people have been unhappy. Mostly, they were cases in the coroner's office where the law was involved.

"Whatever I've done, I've tried to do in good faith with the families involved," Williams said.

He's a firm believer in the value of pre-planning.

"If you have some idea of what the person's personal preferences are, it makes it a whole lot easier on the spouse or children," he said.

In keeping with the fun of life, Williams related that after his first four years in office and his successful reelection bid, he saw a woman who -- as everyone in Georgetown did -- knew him as "Mack."

His name on the ballot was "Willson M. Williams."

The woman told him following the election, "Mack, I wanted to vote for you but I couldn't find your name on the ballot."