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Williams remembered as politician, friend
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Aug 30, 1984: Then-Congressman Lyle Williams, right, a Republican anomaly in the heavily Democratic 17th District, shakes the hand of the opponent who would finally oust him from a three-term run in the U.S. House, James A. Traficant Jr. Traficant, then-Mahoning County sheriff, went on to serve 17 years in the House himself before being sent to prison in 2002 for eight years for racketeering, bribery, obstruction of justice and tax evasion.
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Lyle Williams
The late congressman had friends on both sides of the aisle.
WARREN — Friends and family remembered Lyle Williams, a three-term congressman who died Friday, as not only a hardworking and skilled politician, but as someone who genuinely cared for people.
“I’m a better person because of Lyle,” said Tony Bernard, a longtime friend who served as a Trumbull County commissioner with Williams. “There are a lot of people who are better because of Lyle.”
The Rev. Terry Siverd of the Cortland Church of Christ said the former barber and politician “had a certain quality that endeared him to so many people. To say he was a likable guy would be a gross understatement.”
The Rev. Mr. Siverd officiated Williams’ funeral service Wednesday at the McFarland & Sons Funeral Home in Warren. About 200 packed the funeral home for the service.
At the service, Bernard, owner of Bernard’s Garden Center in Warren, told of Williams’ run for county commissioner in 1972. The initial results showed incumbent Gary Thompson, a Democrat, beating Williams, a Republican.
“We worked hard and Lyle lost,” Bernard said.
But a few days later, Williams said he had some news “that will make you happy,” Bernard said.
The news? A machine error at the Trumbull County Board of Elections had misread some of the results and Williams won the commissioner’s race.
“Who wins an election two weeks after the election?” Bernard said.
Bernard later joined Williams as a county commissioner.
In 1978, Williams challenged incumbent U.S. Rep. Charles Carney, a Democrat, for his congressional seat. Even though the district was overwhelmingly Democratic, Williams won. He served three two-year terms before losing in 1984 to Democrat James Traficant.
Shortly after joining the U.S. House, Williams met Bernie Schroeder, who served as chief of staff for a Democratic congressman from Michigan.
At Wednesday’s service, Schroeder said he couldn’t believe his eyes the first time he saw Williams, particularly his hair. Schroeder described Williams’ hairstyle as a “ducktail.”
Over the years, the two became close friends with Williams once fishing Schroeder out of the water when he fell in.
“He could be friends with Newt Gingrich or Ted Kennedy,” Schroeder said of Williams, known for his bipartisanship.
“Lyle’s a friend I’ll never forget,” said ex-U.S. Rep. Eugene Atkinson of Beaver County, Pa., who served in the House with Williams. “... I thank God for his friendship.”
David Dudgeon, of Valencia, Pa., married to one of Williams’ daughters, Debra, said he didn’t know his father-in-law as a politician or a businessman.
When Dudgeon started dating his future wife, Williams invited him on a fishing trip. The two would take them annually, adding family members and friends with each trip, Dudgeon said.
“Family mattered to Lyle,” Dudgeon said. “No matter what else he was in life, he was a family man.”
Williams, 66, of Lordstown, died Friday of an apparent heart attack at the Italian American Club in Warren.
The flag outside the Trumbull County Courthouse flew at half-staff Wednesday in honor of Williams.
After leaving Congress, Williams worked two years for the U.S. Department of Labor and then as a lobbyist. He spent the past several years as executive director of the National Association of Subacute and Post Acute Care in Washington, D.C.
He tried a political comeback in 2002, losing the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District nomination to Mike Halleck of Salem. Halleck lost the general election that year to Democrat Ted Strickland.
Williams co-chaired a fundraiser in Vienna in November 2007 for ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, then a Republican presidential candidate.
skolnick@vindy.com