Betty Jane (Szabo) Williams

Betty Jane (Szabo) Williams – of Winchester, March 10th.  Beloved wife of the late Earle A. Williams, at ninety six years of age.  Devoted mother of Eric Williams , his wife Martina of Milford and  Christina Williams  and her late husband Warren Meck of NC.  Dear sister of the late George, and Lester John Szabo.  Cherished grandmother of  Barry Vrijssen, his wife Annette and Wouter Vrijssen, his wife Tosca and great grandmother of Daan, Jip, Flor and Dion, along with her precious “Jack the cat.” Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to pay their respects in the Lynch-Cantillon Funeral Home, 263 Main Street, Woburn,  Saturday, March 26th,  from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. with a memorial service to follow at 11:30 a.m. Burial will be take place at the convenience of the family.

Betty Jane Williams, an educator, director, producer and advocate for high school and community theater in Belmont, Arlington and Winchester, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 10^th just days before her 97^th birthday on March 16^th.  Known as BJ to her theater friends and Mumsie to her family, she lived a remarkable and dramatic life.

An Arlington resident since 1961, BJ taught English, drama, and speech and served as director of drama at Belmont High School for 23 years. She also served as master teacher for Harvard’s Master of Arts in Teaching program and as the supervising teacher of English and theater interns from Emerson College, and won multiple awards for “favorite teacher”. BJ directed more high school drama and musical productions than one could count, involving thousands of students over the years. Since the birth of the Boston Globe Drama Festival in 1969, BJ directed a student play for the contest each year until her retirement in 1988. Two of her productions were chosen “best in state” and one represented the state in the New England festival.  She served as President of the Massachusetts High School Drama Guild for several years, becoming a life member. She encouraged and inspired many of her students who have gone on to careers in theater music and dance, many of whom continued to stay in touch with her, looking forward to her witty holiday cards.

After retiring from Belmont High, BJ did not slow down nor did she stop mentoring. She directed and produced scores of productions at the Winchester Players, Belmont Dramatic Club and Arlington Friends of the Drama, serving on their boards. Many of her shows were nominated for distinguished achievement awards from EMACT (Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theaters), an organization for which she also served as board member, consultant and reviewer. In 2019, EMACT honored BJ with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her sustained commitment to community theater and to nurturing and uplifting all community theater makers. Along with her devotion to theater, BJ gave of herself in other ways. She served as host family for several generations of MIT foreign students, inviting them for birthdays, holidays and family celebrations. She volunteered at WGBH giving lively and dramatic tours of the studios. She assisted the visually impaired and conducted drama exercises at the Belmont Manor Nursing home.  She was an avid chef and loved to entertain, making sure that food looked as good as it tasted. “Presentation is everything” she always proclaimed.

A Buffalo, NY native, BJ was the daughter of the late portrait painter Laszlo Szabo, whose works decorated her home. Her mother, Rose, an early feminist who graduated from college and became a social worker, believed that women should have lives outside of the home. During WWII, BJ enlisted in the Women’s Army Corp and, while she didn’t serve overseas as she had hoped, she became editor of the Women’s Army Corp newspaper that was sent overseas. After she was discharged, she married Earle Williams, who she had met in high school. She always said that because she ran his campaign for junior class president, he blamed her for the loss.  After the war, the two newlywed adventurers drove across the country to attend the University of California, Berkeley where she majored in English and received a master’s degree in Education.  After graduation they moved back to the east coast to Moorestown NJ, near Earle’s work at RCA.  There they first lived in a log cabin and later in a Victorian home on Main St. while BJ taught English and directed the drama program at Moorestown High school.  In 1961, Earle and BJ and their two young children, Eric and Christina moved to Arlington, MA.  A believer in life-long education, BJ earned a Master of Science in Speech and Theater Studies from Emerson College in 1979. 

BJ Williams was a dynamic, kind, and loving woman with seemingly boundless energy, an easy sense of humor, and an optimistic view of life.  She loved to be on the move, whether that was directing and promoting one of her productions, traveling to NY or London to see the latest shows, planning family get-togethers, joining her ‘three amigos” for birthday celebrations, or supporting and helping her many students, friends and relatives.  At various times in her life, she collected antiques, especially glass bottles; took painting lessons; wrote poetry; designed and sewed costumes; raised funds for community theater; devoured novels and biographies; and planned and hosted numerous late night post-production parties for her casts and crew.  She believed that if you had a happy life, you should return the favor and make life easier and better for someone else by paying back in kind.

BJ is survived and will be remembered by her many wonderful friends and fellow thespians, former students, neighbors, nieces and nephews, her son Eric Williams and wife Martina of Milford, MA; her daughter Christina Williams of Durham, NC, and by 17-year-old Jack the cat

A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday March 26^th at 10:30 at the Lynch-Cantillon Funeral Home, 263 Main Street, Woburn, MA 01801. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to organizations whose mission she cared about: Broadway Dreams (https://broadwaydreams.org) or Doctors Without Borders (https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/) 

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to pay their respects in the Lynch-Cantillon Funeral Home, 263 Main Street, Woburn,  Saturday, March 26th,  from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. with a memorial service to follow at 11:30 a.m. Burial will be take place at the convenience of the family.