Warren Rand Williams

Image Source: Durham Herald-Sun. December 31, 1955, p. 8.

Governor Robert Gregg Cherry (1891–1957) appointed Warren Rand Williams to serve on the ECTC board from 1946–1949, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Oscar Percy “O. P.” Makepeace (1883–1965) of Sanford, Williams’ uncle-in-law. With this appointment, Cherry, still in his first year, had appointed six of the twelve members of the ECTC board, consolidating his purge of trustees who had earlier voted to exonerate Dr. Leon R. Meadows (1884–1953), former president of ECTC, just as he, Meadows, faced resignation and indictment for embezzlement and false pretense. Meadows was eventually tried twice and convicted.

O. P. Makepeace was hardly a pro-Meadows trustee: he was one of four board members who voted against the resolution exonerating Meadows “of any suggestion of wrongdoing or misapplication of college funds.” When Makepeace resigned, he gave Governor Cherry the opportunity to choose someone of like mind: his nephew, Warren R. Williams, also from Sanford, who was not only related to Makepeace by marriage but also the brother of Superior Court Judge Clawson L. Williams (1887–1964), who presided over Meadows’ first trial in Pitt County Superior Court. While that trial ended in mistrial with the jury failing to agree on a verdict, the second trial in the summer of 1945, found Meadows guilty of embezzlement and false pretense.

Williams’ brief tenure was eventful. His first year saw Dennis H. Cooke (1904–1982) become the new ECTC president, replacing Howard J. McGinnis (1882–1971) who had earlier served as acting president following the resignation of Dr. Meadows. However, Cooke resigned after one year, forcing the board to search again for a new president. Round two brought in Dr. John D. Messick (1897–1993), a native North Carolinian albeit one then working as administrative assistant to the president of the State Teachers College in Montclair, New Jersey. After his hire, Messick quickly devoted himself to East Carolina’s growth and development, at last establishing for the school well-grounded, dynamic leadership.

A native of Moore County just west of Sanford in Lee County, Williams later relocated to Sanford and served as mayor of that town for 20 years, first being elected in 1927. Prior to his tenure as mayor, Williams had served as Sanford’s city attorney since 1915, the year he graduated from the University of North Carolina’s Law School. Active in politics, he was a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee for several terms. Even while practicing law with the law firm of Teague, Williams, and Love, Williams had various business interests: he served as president of the Atlantic and Western Railway Company, as vice-president of the National Bank of Sanford, as president of the Father George Mills, as secretary and director of the Roberts Company, a textile manufacturer, and as director of the N. C. Business Development Corporation. Williams was also a member of the State Hospital Board of Control.

Williams was instrumental in expanding medical training opportunities at historically black colleges in North Carolina just before the Jim Crow system of higher education met legal doom in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision declaring segregation unconstitutional. The year before, Governor Umstead had appointed Williams to chair a committee investigating the possible establishment of a nurse training program at one or more of the state’s historically black colleges. Williams’ committee soon recommended a four-year collegiate nursing program at North Carolina College at Durham (now, North Carolina Central University), another at A&T College in Greensboro (now North Carolina A&T University), and a third at the State Teachers College in Winston-Salem (now, Winston-Salem State University). Though segregation was soon declared unconstitutional, real changes in North Carolina did not occur for at least another decade making these new nursing programs all the more significant for expanding professional empowerment opportunities for African Americans in the mid-twentieth century and beyond.

Williams also served on the State Board of Elections from 1960 until his passing in 1965. Shortly after, the State Board passed a resolution in his memory recognizing that Williams’ “devotion to the cause of free and honest elections and his ability to rise above partisan politics was an inspiration to his fellow members.” A former state senator, Williams was honored by the state legislature posthumously through a joint resolution (Resolution 52, House Joint Resolution 629) recognizing his many contributions to the state. In 1960, an oil portrait of Williams was given by the Williams family to the school, Warren R. Williams School, named in his honor.

Sources

• “Business Corp. Aimed at Developing Industry in N.C. Formally Chartered.” Durham Herald-Sun. December 31, 1955. P. 8.
• “Legislative Record.” News and Observer. April 28, 1965. P. 7.
• “Former N. C. Solon Dies.” News and Observer. April 18, 1965. P. 1.
• “Gov. Umstead Authorizes Negro Schools of Nursing.” Asheville Citizen-Times. July 21, 1953. P. 18.
• “North Carolina General Assembly 1965 Session, Resolution 52, House Joint Resolution 629.” https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Resolutions/HTML/1965-1966/Res1965-52.html
• “Sanford Mayor Builds Name for Himself by Active Interest in Welfare of Town.” Durham Morning Herald. June 24, 1949. P. 20.
• “Sanford School Given Portrait.” News and Observer. April 13, 1960. P. 21.
• “Sanford’s Mayor is Trophy Winner: Warren R. Williams Named Lee County’s Man of the Year for Second Time.” News and Observer. January 1, 1939. P. 2.
• “Umstead Appoints Committee to Study Negro Nurse Training.” Charlotte Observer. June 12, 1953. P. 5.
• “Under the Dome.” News and Observer. January 22, 1946. P. 1.
• “Vote Board Seeks a Law to Guard Against Frauds.” News and Observer. April 29, 1965. P. 18.

Related Materials

Image Source: Durham Herald-Sun. June 24, 1949, Sect. II, p. 6.

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