Leslie Williams Obituary

Dateline : Dunbarton, NH

Leslie Rowell Williams died on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2007, at age 63, after a brave, 5-year battle with colon cancer. She was the precious daughter of Lillian Blake Williams and loving stepdaughter of Gerald Williams, both of Dunbarton, and beloved sister of Jennifer W. Oliver of Goffstown, Shelley I. Westenberg of New York City and Jon B. Williams of Euless, Texas. At the time of her death, Dr. Williams had been teaching in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia for 33 years, with a special interest in multicultural education. She was the advisor and mentor to countless teachers and teacher educators. Born in Nashua, New Hampshire, Dr. Williams attended the Straw Elementary School in Manchester, then Concord High School and two years of the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul’s School. She went on to receive a B.A. at Wellesley, an M.A.T. at Harvard, and an Ed.D. at Teachers College, Columbia University. After receiving her B.A., she was VISTA volunteer at a Head Start in Nondalton, Alaska, where she taught Athabaskan Indian children aged 3–6 years. She served as a Head Start teacher and trainer in over nine Tribal Head Start Programs in South Dakota, and was a demonstration teacher at the DARCEE Center of Fairview Tennessee. At Teachers College, she co-founded the Rita Gold Center, a daycare and pre-K lab school for children 3 months to 5 years. She also co-founded the Early Childhood Encyclopedia Project at Teachers College and Hofstra University, which resulted in The Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education (co-authored with Doris P. Fromberg), and co-founded the All-Day Kindergarten Network. She was responsible for the development of a multicultural preschool curriculum called ALERTA, which was published in 1985, and wrote or co-wrote over 15 books on early childhood education, including Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Approach for the Primary Classroom. She was a contributor to many scholarly journals, including the Let’s Find Out series of Scholastic Publications; was the editor of the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education; co- edited the Innovations in Early Childhood Education series for the Greenwood Press; and edited the Early Childhood Education series for the Teachers College Press. She has been a consultant for early care centers and teacher education programs across the globe, including Japan, India, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Korea, Crete, and Brazil. She was a beacon of light in the lives of her family, friends and colleagues. She inspired everyone she touched. Not a day will go by without our missing her deeply.

A memorial reception will be held at the French & Rising Funeral Home 17 South Mast Street, Goffstown on Thursday November 29 from 4:00 PM to 7:00PM. Dr. Williams was a faithful member of the Congregational Church of Dunbarton, and her funeral service will be held there on Friday, November30 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the scholarship fund for children of the Rita Gold Center, Teachers College. Please contact Isabel Belinkie, Teachers College, Box 98, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, Phone (212) 678-3013. For more information or to sign an online guestbook go to www.frenchandrising.com