×

Neva Beth Tobias Williams

Neva Beth Tobias Williams

Mrs. Neva Beth Tobias Williams, 99, of Skillman, New Jersey died on August 24, 2019. Born March 17, 1920, she was the daughter of Bertena Maguire and Lorenze R. Tobias. She is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Tena and Christopher Achen of Princeton, New Jersey; a sister, Roma Fern Cook, of Tallahassee, Florida; granddaughters, Monica Achen (Scott Purdy) of Somerville, MA and Alexandra Killewald (Phillip) of Waltham, MA; a niece and two nephews, Sharon Huegel of New Smyrna Beach, FL, Dr. Patrick Cook of Tallahassee, FL, and Toby Cook of Fort Smith, AR.

Mrs. Williams, a graduate of Lock Haven High School, received a B.A. degree from Connecticut College, New London, CT and an M.S. in Social Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. She did additional course work at Smith College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Prior to graduate school, Mrs. Williams was employed by the Aetna Life Insurance Company, Hartford, CT. During World War II she served as a medical social worker with the American Red Cross in the Army’s Cushing General Hospital in Framingham, MA. When the army hospital closed, she remained with her patients under the Veterans Administration.

After her marriage to Robert P. Williams of Simsbury, CT on June 28, 1947, Mrs. Williams worked for the Connecticut Department of Health. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, she was employed as a medical psychiatric social worker in the Veterans Administration Williamsport office. Following its closure, she was employed by the Family Service Agency in Williamsport until she accepted a position as a community mental health consultant with the Department of Public Welfare in Harrisburg. As a consultant to seventeen counties in Northeast Pennsylvania, she assisted in the establishment of mental health facilities and workshops for those with developmental disabilities as well as serving as a consultant to already established mental health facilities. She personally conducted education workshops for health and welfare personnel and clergy. She also served as a guest lecturer at Lock Haven State College (the current Lock Haven University); as a field instructor for the Marywood University School of Social Work, Scranton; and as a consultant to the Social Service Department of the Lock Haven Hospital. After 25 years, she retired as Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare’s Selinsgrove Community Service Center and as Area Director for the Department of Public Welfare.

Mrs. Williams served on the State Board of the P.T.A.; the first State Board of the Girl Scouts’ new Hemlock Council; the boards of the Williamsport Park Home, the Williamsport Woman’s Club, the Clio Club, the Florence Crittenden Services, the Lock Haven United Way, and the board of her church.

Mrs. Williams was a member of the Woolrich Community United Methodist Church. There will be no visitation. Burial will be in Woolrich at the convenience of the family.