Posted: 9:01 AM - Jul 19, 2004
This is possibly a McKay descendant but I need to check the Rust branch to verify.
From The Winchester Star: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinche ... uaries.asp
Elizabeth Rust Williams, 59, of "Clermont," Berryville, died Thursday, July 8, 2004, at her home.
Mrs. Williams was born June 19, 1945, in Winchester, the daughter of Edward McCormick and Caroline Caverly Rust Williams.
She was a civil and criminal attorney in Berryville since 1982. She was a substitute judge from 1986 to 1999, and the first female judge to be appointed to the 26th Judicial Circuit Court.
She was president of the Clarke County Bar Association from 1983 to 1988. She was recognized for outstanding contributions to the public through exceptional pro bono service in 1993 by the Virginia Sate Bar. She was named Outstanding Woman Attorney of Virginia in 1986 by the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.
She was a graduate of American University, Washington College of Law, and earned a bachelors degree in journalism from George Washington University. She was a graduate of the Madeira School in Greenway, Fairfax County, and Powhatan School in Boyce.
From 1968 to 1978, she was a news aide, researcher, and part-time staff writer at the Washington Post, The Philadelphia Daily News, the Philadelphia Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a contributing editor at the Metropolitan Magazine.
She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church and the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce. She was a former director of the Clarke County Historical Association.
She was the last member of her immediate family.
A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Green Hill Cemetery, Berryville, with the Very Rev. Canon Dwight L. Brown officiating.
Memorials may be made to John H. Enders Fire & Rescue, 9 S. Buckmarsh St., Berryville 22611.
Enders & Shirley Funeral Home, Berryville, is handling arrangements.
Additional article about her also found in The Winchester Star at this link: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinche ... lliams.asp
Winchester Star, July 12, 2004, Pg. B1 & B4, Winchester, Virginia.
(Clipping 1) (Clipping 2)
BERRYVILLE -- She was intelligent,
private, and reserved.
Not too many people knew her well but they always knew who she was and what she stood for.
She was Elizabeth Rust Williams -- Clarke County's first female attorney, the first woman to preside as a judge in the 26th Judicial Circuit, and a passionate defender of her family's ancestral land.
Williams, 59, died Thursday at her beloved farm, Clermont, after a fight with cancer.
The daughter of Edward McCormick Williams and Caroline Caverly Rust, Williams was the last of her immediate family.
A graveside service is being held at 11 a.m. today in Green Hill Cemetery.
"She was very independent," said M. Tyson Gilpin Jr., a Winchester attorney who knew Williams from childhood and is now serving as executor of her estate. "A little bit of a contrarian -- she liked to go her own way.
Her 18th-century farm on the eastern border of Berryville was "just sacrosanct," Gilpin said, and she had a keen interest in anything that could affect it.
"She struck fear in the hearts of local governments," said Clarke County Supervisor Michael Hobert in a light but admiring tone.
Aside from being strong, Williams was thoughtful, said Hobert, who once ran the former Coiner's Department Store in Berryville.
He recalled her coming in to buy warm-weather gear for the people who worked on the farm. "She'd really stock them up to be comfortable," he said.
Williams was dedicated to more than the land where she raised beef cattle.
"Elizabeth was one of the first in the county to put her money where her mouth was in terms of restoring downtown," Hobert said.
Williams started practicing as a civil and criminal attorney in 1982, and was president of the Clarke County Bar Association from 1983 to 1988.
In 1986, she was named Outstanding Woman Attorney of Virginia by the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.
"She was a real advocate for her clients," said Clarke County General District Court Judge Norman deVere Morrison.
Williams' qualities as an attorney led then-Chief Circuit Judge Robert K. Woltz to appoint her as a substitute judge for general district and juvenile and domestic relations courts. She held the part-time judgeship from 1986 through 1999.
(Elizabeth Kellas, who was appointed this year to preside in the 26th Judicial Circuit's juvenileand domestic relations courts, is the first woman to be named a full-time judge in the circuit.)
Woltz, a father of three daughters, said he appointed Williams to the bench because "I like to see the ladies given a fair shake," and she was a reliable attorney who "had some pretty good legal insights.
She had a good temperament for a judge, Morrison said.
"I never heard any unkind words about her decisions," he said.
Legal work ran in Williams' family. Her father, Edward McCormack Williams, was Clarke County's commonwealth's attor- ney for 36 years.
She wasn't just a preservationist and attorney, however, "She was a big-game hunter" who once shot a wild ram, and often traveled to game preserves to hunt, Gilpin said.
Williams was also a journalist who worked in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia between 1968 and 1978. That training may have helped her out in another undertaking.
She compiled a day-by-day history of her family from 1750 to 1920, Gilpin said. The family, which had been based at Clermont for most of that time, had saved its correspondence over the years.
The home is a pure expression of one family's life over the centuries. "That place just hasn't been tampered with, Gilpin said.
Williams' protection of Clermont is almost the stuff of legend. I wouldn't be surprised if she'll be doing it from beyond the grave," Hobert said Saturday.
She's trying.
Her will leaves Clermont to the state Department of Historic Resources, Gilpin said.
From The Winchester Star: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinche ... uaries.asp
Elizabeth Rust Williams, 59, of "Clermont," Berryville, died Thursday, July 8, 2004, at her home.
Mrs. Williams was born June 19, 1945, in Winchester, the daughter of Edward McCormick and Caroline Caverly Rust Williams.
She was a civil and criminal attorney in Berryville since 1982. She was a substitute judge from 1986 to 1999, and the first female judge to be appointed to the 26th Judicial Circuit Court.
She was president of the Clarke County Bar Association from 1983 to 1988. She was recognized for outstanding contributions to the public through exceptional pro bono service in 1993 by the Virginia Sate Bar. She was named Outstanding Woman Attorney of Virginia in 1986 by the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.
She was a graduate of American University, Washington College of Law, and earned a bachelors degree in journalism from George Washington University. She was a graduate of the Madeira School in Greenway, Fairfax County, and Powhatan School in Boyce.
From 1968 to 1978, she was a news aide, researcher, and part-time staff writer at the Washington Post, The Philadelphia Daily News, the Philadelphia Magazine, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a contributing editor at the Metropolitan Magazine.
She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church and the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce. She was a former director of the Clarke County Historical Association.
She was the last member of her immediate family.
A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Monday in Green Hill Cemetery, Berryville, with the Very Rev. Canon Dwight L. Brown officiating.
Memorials may be made to John H. Enders Fire & Rescue, 9 S. Buckmarsh St., Berryville 22611.
Enders & Shirley Funeral Home, Berryville, is handling arrangements.
Additional article about her also found in The Winchester Star at this link: http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinche ... lliams.asp
Winchester Star, July 12, 2004, Pg. B1 & B4, Winchester, Virginia.
(Clipping 1) (Clipping 2)
Williams: A Legacy of Advocacy, Protection
By STEPHANIE M. MANGINO
The Winchester Star
 |
Not too many people knew her well but they always knew who she was and what she stood for.
She was Elizabeth Rust Williams -- Clarke County's first female attorney, the first woman to preside as a judge in the 26th Judicial Circuit, and a passionate defender of her family's ancestral land.
Williams, 59, died Thursday at her beloved farm, Clermont, after a fight with cancer.
The daughter of Edward McCormick Williams and Caroline Caverly Rust, Williams was the last of her immediate family.
A graveside service is being held at 11 a.m. today in Green Hill Cemetery.
"She was very independent," said M. Tyson Gilpin Jr., a Winchester attorney who knew Williams from childhood and is now serving as executor of her estate. "A little bit of a contrarian -- she liked to go her own way.
Her 18th-century farm on the eastern border of Berryville was "just sacrosanct," Gilpin said, and she had a keen interest in anything that could affect it.
"She struck fear in the hearts of local governments," said Clarke County Supervisor Michael Hobert in a light but admiring tone.
Aside from being strong, Williams was thoughtful, said Hobert, who once ran the former Coiner's Department Store in Berryville.
He recalled her coming in to buy warm-weather gear for the people who worked on the farm. "She'd really stock them up to be comfortable," he said.
Williams was dedicated to more than the land where she raised beef cattle.
"Elizabeth was one of the first in the county to put her money where her mouth was in terms of restoring downtown," Hobert said.
Williams started practicing as a civil and criminal attorney in 1982, and was president of the Clarke County Bar Association from 1983 to 1988.
In 1986, she was named Outstanding Woman Attorney of Virginia by the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.
"She was a real advocate for her clients," said Clarke County General District Court Judge Norman deVere Morrison.
Williams' qualities as an attorney led then-Chief Circuit Judge Robert K. Woltz to appoint her as a substitute judge for general district and juvenile and domestic relations courts. She held the part-time judgeship from 1986 through 1999.
(Elizabeth Kellas, who was appointed this year to preside in the 26th Judicial Circuit's juvenileand domestic relations courts, is the first woman to be named a full-time judge in the circuit.)
Woltz, a father of three daughters, said he appointed Williams to the bench because "I like to see the ladies given a fair shake," and she was a reliable attorney who "had some pretty good legal insights.
She had a good temperament for a judge, Morrison said.
"I never heard any unkind words about her decisions," he said.
Legal work ran in Williams' family. Her father, Edward McCormack Williams, was Clarke County's commonwealth's attor- ney for 36 years.
She wasn't just a preservationist and attorney, however, "She was a big-game hunter" who once shot a wild ram, and often traveled to game preserves to hunt, Gilpin said.
Williams was also a journalist who worked in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia between 1968 and 1978. That training may have helped her out in another undertaking.
She compiled a day-by-day history of her family from 1750 to 1920, Gilpin said. The family, which had been based at Clermont for most of that time, had saved its correspondence over the years.
The home is a pure expression of one family's life over the centuries. "That place just hasn't been tampered with, Gilpin said.
Williams' protection of Clermont is almost the stuff of legend. I wouldn't be surprised if she'll be doing it from beyond the grave," Hobert said Saturday.
She's trying.
Her will leaves Clermont to the state Department of Historic Resources, Gilpin said.