Sarah Vosper Williams, 1928-2012: Volunteer aided area groups

3/19/2012

PORT CLINTON -- Sarah Vosper Williams, who had been active in many community groups, including Junior League of Toledo, Wolcott House Museum in Maumee and Keeper's House Museum, died Feb. 21 at home in Ottawa County's Catawba Island Township. She was 83.

Her son, Tom Williams, said she died of heart failure.

She and her late husband, William, moved in 1969 from Ottawa Hills to Cleveland Heights, where they lived until 1980, when they relocated to Catawba Island.

Mr. Williams said his parents became supporters of the Keeper's House Museum, next to Marblehead Lighthouse State Park.

She was born June 29, 1928, to Mary Bissel Vosper and Waynard Vosper, who was the son of Toledo industrialist William Vosper, developer of a method for cutting pipe threads. He went on to become president of Toledo Threading Machine Co.

Mrs. Williams attended Columbus School for Girls and graduated in 1946 from Ottawa Hills High School.

Mr. Williams said his mother attended the University of Michigan for two years before accepting a job at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.

Mr. Williams said his mother was assistant to the curator of small mammals at the institution.

He said she stayed at the museum for several years and returned to the Toledo area to work as a commodities trader for Cargill.

Mrs. Williams met her husband on a blind date that was arranged by mutual friends, their son said.

They were married Aug. 29, 1953.

Mr. Williams died Sept. 5, 2004.

Mr. Williams said she focused on raising and caring for her family but also devoted energy and time to volunteering and community groups.

"She became very active in the Wolcott House and the Toledo Museum of Art, and she did other stuff in what would be called outreach nowadays," he said.

She also was active in the Junior League of Toledo, helping the membership plan, develop, and distribute the 1965 film Fate of a River, which reported on pollution in streams in the Maumee River watershed.

Mrs. Williams was a board member and docent at the Wolcott House and a member of Questers, a group concerned with preserving antiques and historic buildings.

After the family moved to the Cleveland area, Mrs. Williams was on the board of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Garden Center.

Surviving are her sons, W. Edwin, Thomas L., and Dr. Richard Williams, and three grandchildren.

There were no services. The family suggests tributes to Keepers House Museum in Marblehead.

Arrangements were handled by the Neidecker, LeVeck & Crosser Funeral Home, Port Clinton Chapel.

-- Mark Reiter