A Northshore Catholic to be remembered on 9-11-01

Son honors Mandeville father's legacy on tenth anniversary of 9/11

wwltv.com

Posted on September 10, 2011 at 6:54 PM

Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS-- As the nation prepares to mark the ten year anniversary of 9/11, one local family is preparing to remember their loved one. Louis Williams, 53, of Mandeville was killed in the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center that day.
"You want to be strong, but it's tough. I think about him a lot," said his son, Scott Williams.
Ten years ago, Louis Williams flew to New York to attend a business meeting. His son went to work in New Orleans that morning at the convention center.
"I know exactly where I was standing, as I was watching the second plane go in," Williams said. "And then I got the call, right after that, from my mom, telling me I needed to come home."
His father's business meeting was on the 78th floor of the South Tower-- near the point of impact for the second plane. What followed for Scott Williams was a painstaking year of haunting questions.
"We wanted to know how the conference room was situated. We wanted to know what the possibilities were-- because at a certain point-- those first couple of months, I killed myself, just wanting to know what happened. Did he suffer?" he said.
When asked if he was prepared for the tenth anniversary, Williams replied: "Yes and no. I guess Wednesday of this week, for the first time, it kind of hit me."
A lot has changed for Scott Williams in ten years. He is now the athletic director at Brother Martin High School and has four children. His father never got to know any of them.
"They're pretty incredible," he said of his children. "They would have put his life in a different perspective."
Williams said he and his family thought about going up to New York for the tenth anniversary, but in the end decided not to. Instead, they are choosing to remember his father as an individual-- a loved one who left a legacy of kindness.
"I would just want more people to come out and do more nice things, more kind things," Williams said. "And he was just that type of person."
On Sep. 11, Louis Williams will be honored by his family at a memorial service at Mary Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mandeville.