Leon Williams, Jr.
Memorial services for Leon Power “Buddy” Williams, Jr. was held 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, at the First Presbyterian Church directed by Cooper Funeral Home.
Mr. Williams, 63, died Monday, June 13, 2011 at McLeod Medical Center in Dillon.
Born in Dillon, August 14, 1947, he was the son of the late Leon Power Williams, Sr. and Sarah Nettie Arnold Williams. He was a member of Main Street United Methodist Church.
Buddy was a 1965 graduate of Dillon High School where he lettered in football and was a member of the Key Club. He earned his Eagle Scout Award in 1961. He continued his education at The Citadel, earning a B.S. degree in 1969. His post-graduate work was completed at the University of South Carolina. Buddy retired from the U.S. Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) as a Senior Special Agent. While active, he conducted felony investigations under the UCMJ involving United States Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps personnel. He taught at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia, and also taught at numerous NCIS offices including Pensacola, Florida; Guam, USA; Naples, Italy; Charleston, SC; and Okinawa and Iwakuni, Japan. He was the training coordinator for the NCIS East Cooper Regional Office in Charleston, SC. Buddy instructed agents in firearm and unarmed self-defense. He was trained in interrogations,
counter-terrorist and hostage negotiations, special protective services, and anti-terrorism, DEA NARC, and fraud. He was the recipient of numerous professional awards from the FBI in Pensacola, Florida, the Japanese police in Okinawa and Iwakuni, and also from NCIS for special ooperations in Japan and Italy. Included in his assignments were the protective service details for Brigadier General James Dozier and former Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman. He was also the NCIS team leader for the Secretary of Defense, William Cohen. Understandably, most of his assignments were classified. After retiring as a special investigator from NCIS in 1997, he worked for the Charleston County Solicitors Office where he retired in 2004. He and his wife, Ellen, returned to Dillon in 2004.
Survivors include his wife, Ellen Campbell Williams of Dillon; daughter, Stacy Howell of Mt. Pleasant; grandson, Carter Sidney Howell; sisters, Sylvia Williams Summer of Mt. Pleasant, MaBeth Williams (Jim) McCuthen of Greenville, and Lydia Williams (Howard) Carr of Dillon; step-son, Robert D. Lane of Dillon; special cousin, Benny “Butch” (Brenda) Davidson of Blythewood, SC; step-grandchildren, Mason Carter Lane, and Alexandra Kennedy Lane.
Memorials may be sent to the American Diabetes Association, PO Box 11454, Alexandria, VA 22312 or the American Cancer Society, PO Box 22718, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73123.