By
Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall
January 27, 2013
NewsWithViews.com
May She Rest in Peace
It was a quiet Friday morning, January 25, 2013, and Mike Williams' thoughtful telephone call could not have surprised me more. His beautiful wife and my dear friend, Carole Jean Williams had died. Though she had been fighting cancer since before the holidays, it happened very suddenly.
No one in the world of journalism or category of "friend" had more impact on my life than C.J. Williams. She and I had some of the most beautiful arguments when she helped me edit my NewsWithViews columns… and then we'd argue about what the headline ought to be. C.J. like longer sentences; I liked shorter ones – but we both loved and respected the truth and that served as the basis of our friendship.
I don't call a lot of people "friend" because to me that word means I respect you, your views and willingness to stand up and fight for them (whether I agree with you, or not), your stance with truth and willingness to put your name on the line for your beliefs… to me, a lot of obligations go with the word "friend." C.J. lived up to all of my self-imposed definitions of the word. She had the same self-imposed definitions.
Carole Jean (C.J.) Williams, age 67 of Pelkie, MI passed away on Friday, January 25, 2013 after a short illness at Marquette General Hospital in Michigan.
Carole – C.J., to me – was born May 10, 1945 in Cass City, MI, daughter to Harold and Wanda (Karr) Huffman. She graduated from North Branch High School in 1963 then attended Central Michigan University. She married Arthur Vasold in 1966 and taught school in North Branch and Perkins, MI. Carole raised her children and later married Mike Williams on September 13, 1991 and they resided in Laurium until 1994 when they moved to Prickett Dam (Pelkie), MI.
She so loved her Upper Peninsula of Michigan… "They call us 'Yoopers,'" she told me in the early days when we were getting to know one another. That was a very special category of people in C.J.'s book – Yoopers are the best, hardiest, most common sense people in the world.
It was in an email from C.J. that I found the email address for Ambassador Lee Emil Wanta. She sent me a message about banking and as I scrolled down to the bottom of the email, there was the Ambassador's email address. Since I had without ever having heard of Wanta duplicated his life in my book When the Swan's Neck Breaks and someone who read the book sent me an article about him, I was shocked to find the fictional character I created was a real human being. I called C.J. immediately and asked where she had gotten Ambassador Wanta's email address. "I have no idea," she told me. "I've never heard of him. It must have been on an email someone sent me and I didn't get it deleted before I forwarded it on to you." She spent the next two or three months helping me research Leo/Lee Wanta… and no one could research anything better than Carole Jean Williams. She was the best!
C.J. wrote, spoke at events and rallies and on radio shows. Her hard raspy voice was strong and provided her with a distinguishing characteristic. When C.J. talked, you never doubted where she stood. How many times she said "I will go to my grave fighting! I won't give these bastards an inch!" And she never did. When C.J. spoke at events, she kicked ass and took names. Her views did not soften because she had an audience. Rather, she felt the need inside her soul to do what she could to make sure people realized that America was being run by a criminal cabal. She actively engaged in getting others actively engaged.
As J.C. Powers. Editor of the National Defender, said in his Memorial about her, "She was a vicious watchdog and her stature was reminiscent of the Marine Corps bulldog. C.J. was not only capable of a painful bite, but when she latched-on there was no letting go."
Powers also pointed out that C.J. "had no respect for individuals who were far more interested in padding their own self-esteem, wallets, or resumes than doing what's right. She especially exhibited a loathing for politicians who were willing to bend over to receive the dictates of fictitious movements like global warming, help promote other global agendas, and put forth their own impositions upon citizens of the nation which she devoutly loved and diligently served."
I wasn't part of C.J.'s sportsmen's organizations but we both appreciated the great outdoors. She amused me every spring with the volume of flowers and bulbs she planted so she and her husband Mike and the rest of her family and friends could enjoy the resultant beauty. In that activity, we shared a love of nature. She battled the Gang Green with an energy that could only be defined as "Wow!" I invited her to be interviewed on Thursday Nights With Marilyn on Blog Talk Radio because no one knew more about Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development issues than C.J. and she could explain them and state her positions on them so succinctly and reasonably.
In addition to writing for NewsWithViews.com, C.J. Williams also wrote for womenhunters.com, the Yooper Spectator, Michigan's News and Views, and the Yooper Spectator and for Yooper Scooper's National Defender. She was active in the Calumet Ladies Elks and the Michigan Republican Party. She belonged to sportsmen's organizations and fought with a vengeance for the Second Amendment rights of the people to bear arms. She was involved with men's and women's gun groups and loved hunting season each year.
C.J. considered herself a Conspiracy Theory Junky in one posting on Michigan's News and Views. "But those who knew her, knew she wasn't a paranoid consumer of tin-hat theories. She never entered the fray until all aspects were verified," said J.C. Powers. She exposed political corruption in her local area and sometimes faced substantial danger because of it.
Carole Williams once wrote: "Worse, I've no remorse over the fact that my fingers have typed the truth of many conspiracies during the past several years, verifying that my theories and some others' theories, which I shared with readers of my newspaper column, have proved to be reality, not merely theory.
"Conspiracy theorists have been around for quite some time. It's only of late - with the phenomenal growth of the TEA Party movement - that the label has received such thundering derision, particularly from the gaggle of far left-leaning, Mao-hugging 'Progressives', who appear to have taken over the Democratic Party at all levels."
Surviving are her husband Mike Williams of Pelkie; son Mike Vasold (Ava Yang) of Luxemburg, WI, daughters Julie Vasold of Kiel, WI, Candy (Dan) Zerbst of Negaunee, MI; Mike's children, Bobby (Angie) Williams of Mohawk, MI and Penny (Al) Marchionda of Memphis, TN; two sisters, Phyllis (Leonard) Ford of Caro, MI, Gayle Haas of Davenport, FL, many grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, January 29th at 12:00 p.m. at the Jacobson Funeral Home, 200 L'Anse Avenue, L'Anse, MI 49946 (906)524-7800 info@jacobsonfuneralhome.com. The family will receive friends for one hour prior to the service. Rev. Judy Mattson will officiate. A luncheon and fellowship will follow the service in the Sharing Room at the Jacobson Funeral Home.
C.J. sent me a beautiful set of wind chimes for Christmas. With them came a note telling me that when the wind blew she hoped it would remind me of her and the wonderful conversations we've had over the years. "So you will hear my voice when the wind blows…" she said.
As J.C. Powers said in his Memorial to C.J., "I'm sure we'll hear her in the murmur of a brook and within the sounds of a cascading waterfall. She's an icon of love, loyalty, patriotism, truth, and passion with a hint of ferociousness.
"Every now-and-again, as you walk through the woods and enjoy the aroma of the outdoors as the wind whiffs through the leaves or gently over the glistening white snow, think of CJ and mention her name out loud for God to hear.
"God had truly blessed us with knowing Thee—Rest in Peace good friend and colleague. Please continue to help us find truth in its purest form; Until then..."
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I was one of those blessed with knowing Carole Jean Williams. I will miss her. Millions of Americans who have never heard her name will miss her because she spent a big part of her life fighting those who would harm them… and she often won those battles no one thought possible to win.
This is a woman to be remembered. My tears over losing you will soon stop, C.J. But my joy at having known you and my respect for you as a woman, a wife, a mother, a journalist and as a Patriot will only grow as I think back over the many discussions we've had about truth and how to find it. Your soul now rests with your Lord and God and may the many blessings you have earned be heaped upon you with the great honor they deserve.
God bless and keep you.
� 2013 Marilyn M. Barnewall - All Rights Reserved
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Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall began her career in 1956 as a journalist with the Wyoming Eagle in Cheyenne. During her 20 years (plus) as a banker and bank consultant, she wrote extensively for The American Banker, Bank Marketing Magazine, Trust Marketing Magazine, was U.S. Consulting Editor for Private Banker International (London/Dublin), and other major banking industry publications. She has written seven non-fiction books about banking and taught private banking at Colorado University for the American Bankers Association. She has authored seven banking books, one dog book, and two works of fiction (about banking, of course). She has served on numerous Boards in her community.
Barnewall is the former editor of The National Peace Officer Magazine and as a journalist has written guest editorials for the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Newsweek, among others. On the Internet, she has written for News With Views, World Net Daily, Canada Free Press, Christian Business Daily, Business Reform, and others. She has been quoted in Time, Forbes, Wall Street Journal and other national and international publications. She can be found in Who's Who in America, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in Finance and Business, and Who's Who in the World.
Web site: http://marilynwrites.blogspot.com
E-Mail: marilynmacg@juno.com
