A small-town mayor with big dreams, Ronnie Williams was Garner’s greatest fan

The town of Garner had grown accustomed to being an underdog, a snubbed step-child among the Raleigh suburbs. It wasn’t as fancy as Cary, as charming as Wake Forest or as desirable as Clayton.

Garner’s former longtime mayor, Ronnie Williams, never let that bring him down. He would have liked to shout his love for his hometown from the rooftops of Main Street, even after Parkinson’s disease garbled his speech and turned his gait into a shuffle.

Williams, a Garner native and Vietnam War veteran who served as mayor from 2005 to 2019, died Saturday. He was 72.

I got to know Williams when I was a young reporter assigned to cover Garner 11 years ago. He was the kind of city government leader journalists adore. Quick to share tidbits of still-secret information and gossip, Williams would pick up his phone when I called. He wanted the people of Garner to know what was happening, and he welcomed the media with open arms.

There was plenty of news to share during the three years I covered the blue-collar, hard-working town of roughly 30,000 people.

An explosion sparked by natural gas rocked the ConAgra Foods manufacturing plant on June 9, 2009, killing four workers. Two years later, as if the universe knew the town needed something good, Garner High School student Scotty McCreery won “American Idol.” His baritone voice and frenzied teenage fans shined a bright light on Garner, where he still lives.

Williams was front and center for all of it, the tragedy of the blast and the intense hometown pride Scotty reawakened.

Garner hasn’t seen the major growth many other Triangle towns have experienced, a fact Williams bemoaned. It was no secret the town had a bit of a reputation problem, with lower-performing schools that seemed to keep young families away.

But that tide has started to shift, with updated schools and prospective homeowners’ apparent newfound realization that Garner is, indeed, right down the road from trendy downtown Raleigh. Williams, who lost his re-election bid last year, deserves much of the credit.

Williams opened up to me for a story about his experience with Parkinson’s, more than a year after he was diagnosed in 2008. He had convinced himself to go see a doctor after a second-grader asked him during an elementary school visit why he was shaking.

The sleepless nights following the ConAgra blast took a toll on him, Williams said. I saw him days later at the Garner High School graduation ceremony, and I remember thinking I had never seen anyone look so exhausted.

But he wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Williams was a champion for his town, a devoted mayor and a nice person. Local government needs more leaders like him.

This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 11:59 AM.