May 5, 1928 — Sept. 19, 2025
Harriet L. Williams, 97, passed away on Sept. 19, 2025, at Asante Ashland Community Hospital in Ashland, Oregon, surrounded by family and friends. She had resided in Ashland for the past five years, having previously lived in Chicago and Skokie, Illinois; and in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Harriet was born in Chicago on May 5, 1928. Both her parents, Louis and Sarah (Shevelenko) Lisitza, had been born in what is now Ukraine and came to the U.S. when they were young children. Their Jewish families were among many who emigrated to escape the pogroms that terrorized their communities.
Harriet attended grade school and high school in Chicago. She was doing secretarial work when she met and then married Harold Williams, known to family and friends as Hershey and to business colleagues as Hal. Harriet was 18 years old when they married in 1947 and was a few days short of her 20th birthday when their first son, Mark, was born.
After becoming a car salesman, Hershey moved the family into their first home in 1956, in Skokie, a new suburb on Chicago’s north side. By then, second son Jeff had been born, and third son Steve came along in 1960. Hershey eventually transitioned to selling home improvements, and Harriet began work at Rand McNally as an assistant editor on their famous road atlases.
In 1975, Hershey decided to retire early, and, when Steve was beginning high school and both Mark and Jeff were finishing college, the family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona.
Harriet and Hershey loved to dance, and they spent many hours dancing and seeing friends at the Senior Center in Scottsdale. They also loved to play cards, and when the family got together, there were always cutthroat games of gin rummy or hearts. Harriet was also an avid mahjong player. And, as they had been in Skokie, the couple was active in their local synagogue.
Hershey passed away in the summer of 2001 at the age of 79. One year later, when Harriet returned to the Scottsdale Senior Center, she met Beryl Parks, who had also lost his spouse, and they spent the next 10 years as a couple, traveling together and dancing. When Beryl died in 2014, Harriet moved from her home into McDowell Village Senior Living in Scottsdale, next door to the Senior Center, where she still had many friends.
In 2020, she moved to Ashland, to be nearer two of her sons, and she lived her final years at Maple Ridge Senior Living. One of the first things she did upon arrival in Oregon was register to vote in her new state.
Harriet is survived by sons Mark Williams and his wife, Mary Renaud, of Ashland; Jeff Williams and his ex-wife, Michelle Williams, of Jamaica and Wilmette, Illinois; and Steve Williams and his wife, Gemma Williams, of Fairfield, California; as well as granddaughters Arielle, Lana, and Hannah and great-grandchildren Maia Lucia, Leo, Marley, and Aaru.
Harriet was buried in the Gan Shalom Cemetery in Briones, California, on September 26, 2025. A Celebration of Life is planned at Maple Ridge Senior Living in Ashland in November; and a ceremony for family and friends will be held for the unveiling of her gravestone in spring 2026 in Briones, California.
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