1977 Dave Williams’ Final Letter / South Bend Tribune Obituary
In the event of my death or complete disablement, this letter should be reproduced and sent to the members of the BEYOND OUR CONTROL company. As an explanation, you see.)
I have the unique opportunity to writing you all a letter from wherever it is that naughty men who have their heads sawed open go when they don't quite make it back to the real world...and that opportunity is unique indeed.
Living alone as I did, I would probably not have this opportunity had not a BOC session been scheduled on Saturday morning. But it was...and so I awoke on Sunday afternoon, in Intensive Care, vomiting on all my loyal friends who were looking down at me and wondering if I should really be adjusting my lilies.
So BOC saved my life...at least for a few weeks...and now it is Monday night, prior to my Friday surgery...and the worst part is that--aside from a few dizzy spells--I feel fantastic. My memory is almost totally regained, I rarely fall down (even to my knees) and my closest and harshest friends are laughing at my jokes, so I guess even my debatable sense of humor is back. All is well, and yet I have to return to Ann Arbor for brain surgery. Ahhh, me.
Some of you may find it ironic that a 37-year-old man who neither drinks nor smokes nor drugs, and who frequently preaches that life is great if you smile a lot and make others happy, suddenly discovers that he harbors something in his brain that doesn't belong there. So do I.
But the point is, I guess, that the past ten years with BOC have been almost 100% joyous...thanks to people like you. (Yes, and you over there, too.) So if at 37 life doesn't end exactly the way you would like it to, at least each day lived has been good. You should all live so long.
"But Dave, what about your philosophy or something to guide us along?"
Glad you asked. I think it all has to do with working hard and smiling a lot and listening more than you talk and concentrating your effort in one area... Shoot, I can only tell you what worked for me. And that may not even begin to work for you. At some point, you must figure all this out for yourself. And beware of setting up short little models to copy.
So, remember me, please, at my best. Filming, or lecturing, or joking with you, ...but most of all, laughing. It was the thing we did best and the thing I was always proudest of.
Anything else you got out of this project--including my love--was up to you.
With my love,
Dave
August 29, 1977
Dave Williams, 37, Promotion Manager of the WNDU Stations and producer of the award-winning television program "Beyond Our Control," died Saturday afternoon at St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor following a brief illness and surgery.
Born June 4, 1940 in South Bend, Williams graduated from Central High School in 1958 and attended Indiana University of South Bend. He joined the WNDU Stations as a production assistant in 1960 and was appointed Promotion Manager in 1964.
He conceived the idea of "Beyond Our Control" in 1966 as a satirical look at the world of television, and, under the auspices of Junior Achievement, has produced the program with area high school students for the past ten years.
Under Williams' guidance, the show received national acclaim with articles in many newspapers and magazines, including an extensive spread in TV Guide. In 1973, the National Association of Television Program Executives named "Beyond Our Control" the nation's best locally-produced variety show. This year, the program captured one of thirty Broadcast Media Awards presented by the staff and students of San Francisco University and a Gold "Hugo," the top prize presented by the Chicago International Film Festival in its television category. "Beyond Our Control" also earned five awards from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for excellence in the field of Economics Education.
Friends may call at the Orvis-Palmer Funeral Home, 336 North Main Street, South Bend, Monday from 7 to 9 PM, and Tuesday from 2 to 4 PM and 7 to 9 PM. Funeral services will be held at the funeral home Wednesday at 11 AM.
