Douglas Russell Williams, a retired occupational therapist and Boy Scout leader, died of complications from a stroke March 12 at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland in Towson. He was 96.
Mr. Williams was born and raised in the city's Howard Park neighborhood. He left school to help support his family and later earned a General Educational Development diploma.
During World War II, he was a deck-fitting foreman at Bethlehem Steel Corp's Fairfield shipyard.
Mr. Williams, who had lived in Towson and Washington, had worked as an occupational therapist at St. Elizabeths Hospital in the District of Columbia for more than 15 years before retiring in the early 1970s.
From the 1920s until the mid-1960s, Mr. Williams was actively involved with the Boy Scouts. He had been scoutmaster of Troop 108 in Baltimore in the 1930s.
An avid hiker, he was a member of the Appalachian Trail Club and Mountain Club of Maryland. He and his wife, the former Dr. Clara Hinton, a biochemist, helped measure the mileage of the trail for mapping. His wife of 63 years died in 2001.
Mr. Williams also enjoyed teaching adults to read, family members said.
Services are private.
Mr. Williams is survived by two sons, Dana O. Williams of Towson and Russell F. Williams of Hagerstown; a daughter, Lefaivre L. Williamson of Kalispell, Mont.; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
