Dr. John Clark Williams, born Sept. 28, 1927 in Troy, Mo., died peacefully July 9, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. He was 88 years old.

He was the son of A. C. Williams and Rose (Shoop) Williams of Troy, Mo., and Vicksburg.

He is preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Virginia (Williams) and her husband James Furr.

Dr. Williams is survived by two children, John Clark Williams II (Cynthia Coakley) of Huntsville, Ala., and Elizabeth (Williams) Thorpe and Jerry Thorpe of Oviedo, Fla.; and two grandchildren, Samuel B. Thorpe and Michael K. and Angela (Jezisek) Thorpe, Orlando, Fla.

Dr. Williams attended Carr Central High School and served in the United States Army infantry in the Philippine Islands in 1945. He attended Mississippi College and graduated from Louisiana State University Medical School in New Orleans, receiving his medical degree in 1957.

At LSU, he was a member of the medical honor society and the surgical honor society. Dr. Williams’ medical experiences included an internship and residency at University of Mississippi School of Medicine.

In 1960, Dr. Williams began a lifetime of service to the community when he joined Dr. Benson Martin’s Vicksburg Infirmary. He later conducted a solo practice. Still later, he joined the Street Clinic, department of internal medicine. Throughout his career he was a staff member at Mercy Hospital and then ParkView, working in the emergency room and making rounds daily. He retired in 1999.

He was contract physician at the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station from 1992 to 1999, on call physician from 1992 to 1999, and contract physician at the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station from 1992 to 2003.

Dr. Williams published an article in “Cancer Journal:” “Williams, John Clark et al, ‘Colon Cancer in Diabetes Mellitus,’” in the December 1984 “Cancer.”

Dr. Williams’ professional societies include the American Society of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians 1968 to 2003, Mississippi Medical Society, West Mississippi Medical Society, from 1960 to 2003, of which he was president in 1972. Dr. Williams was a member of the Street Clinic Medical Association. Even in his retirement he served his community as a volunteer of medical services at the Good Shepherd Medical Clinic from 1999 to 2014.

He was a long time member of First Presbyterian Church.

Services will be 11 a.m. Friday, July 22, at Riles Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until the service. Interment services will be private.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made, in honor or memory of Dr. Williams to the Good Shepherd Community Center, 629 Cherry Street, Vicksburg, MS  39183.