Arthur Williams Jr.

Arthur Williams Jr. was a well-known funeral home director in Huntington.

Affectionately called ‘A.J.’ by his friends and associates, Williams graduated from Douglass High School and attended West Virginia State College before his parents sent him to the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science to earn a degree so he could help with the family business, Williams Mortuary. When his father and mother died, Williams and his wife ran the family business until it was sold in 2001.

Williams provided funeral services for the Black community at a time when white funeral homes would not serve Black people. He was one of the lead morticians during the tragic Marshall University plane crash in 1970. He worked relentlessly for three days, without sleep, assisting and identifying loved ones’ remains.

Williams also was employed at Inco Alloys for 33 years.