John Bligh
- Retired School Secretary
Thelia Williams, a retired New York City public school secretary with 28 years of service, died on May 26 of natural causes. She was 91.
Thelia began her career in the 1960s at PS 5 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, according to her daughter, Sharlene Berry. Other schools she worked at in District 16 were PS 262, PS 308 and JHS 35. She retired in 1991 from PS 299 in nearby Bushwick, Brooklyn, after 28 years of service with the DOE.
Thelia initially worked for the city Department of Finance, but she switched to the Department of Education after she got married and had children so that she could spend more time with her kids, said Berry, who is a retired special education teacher in New York City public schools and a former chapter leader.
Berry said her mother enjoyed her job, especially the students. “She loved working with the kids and helping them out,” she said.
Helen Mitchell, a retired family associate in the guidance office who worked with Thelia at PS 5, said it was a pleasure going to work because Thelia would greet everyone warmly when they arrived in the morning. The two worked together for many years and were friends as well as colleagues, keeping in touch after retirement.
“She was such a pleasant person, and when you spoke to her, there was something in her voice that was so angelic,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell, who started as a school aide, said Thelia assisted her when she was working toward her bachelor’s degree, which she earned with help from her DC 37 union’s career ladder program. Mitchell had never learned how to type, and Thelia, who could type 100 words per minute, offered to use her lunch break to type a term paper that Mitchell had written in longhand.
“She was the most delightful person and never wanted anything in return,” Mitchell said. “A thank-you – that was it.”
Mitchell described Thelia as a “people person” whom she never saw get angry. “Words themselves cannot explain it – it was just a kindness in her heart,” she said.
In addition to Berry, Thelia is survived by her son, Matthew Williams, and grandchildren Benjamin, Joseph and Jonathan.
