Lyons native honored for his volunteer work in North Dakota

Ivan Williams

Helping others hasn't come by chance for Ivan Williams.

Growing up in the Lyons area, Williams and his brothers and sisters learned that giving back to your community was important. They mastered the gift from their parents, Ellis and Norma Lee Williams.

Ellis passed away in May, and Norma Lee still lives in the Lyons area.

"Most of my volunteer work came because of my parents. My mother probably has never said no to someone, and my dad ... if you go to Lyons, the two ballparks, he helped build them," Williams recalled.

"The American Legion, he helped put it back together after it burned. Over the years he's coached youth sports ... he coached everything he could coach in Lyons."

Those qualities have come in handy for Ivan Williams, who began his career with Thompson Chemical in Greene County before being transferred to Illinois. He now works for Bayer CropScience in Mandan, N.D., as a manager and in chemical sales.

Mandan "is across the river from Bismarck (N.D.) in the center of the state," Williams noted.

Williams recently learned that his community work hasn't gone unnoticed. He has been accepted into the United States Jaycees Foundation Hall of Leadership.

The award will be presented to him at the U.S. Jaycees annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 26.

"I didn't know anything about it," Williams said in a telephone interview Sunday afternoon. "A lot of good friends and people here thought enough of my efforts toward football and things here in town to do that."

The Hall of Leadership recognizes Jaycees members over 41 years of age whose active leadership qualities during their Jaycee career contributed to a continuation of leadership and service in their communities outside of their active Jaycee years.

Williams has been active in several areas within the community. He was recognized not only for his volunteerism, but for his contribution in the field of science.

In 1991, Williams began the Mandan Youth Football Program that was organized for fifth and sixth graders. Under his supervision, the program began as a flag football program, and has since changed to a tackle program which has grown to include third and fourth graders. Making that change required more fundraising in purchasing equipment, and Williams helped in getting several businesses to sponsor the program.

Now in its 19th year, the program has become so strong that players from other communities travel to Mandan to participate.

"We started this league because my youngest son was too big for football in Bismarck," Williams said. "We've stayed with it for 19 years.

"It's a thrill. We're right in the middle of it right now. As a matter of fact, when you called I thought it was someone calling about football."

This year's season starts Sept. 12 and there are 150 third through sixth graders participating.

In the fall of 2005, Williams and the Friends of Fort Lincoln began Halloween in June at Fort Lincoln State Park, a program that fills the park each weekend. Campground Fun Day in July at Fort Lincoln is also a part of Halloween in June, all of which Williams does fundraising for.

In the area of science, Williams suggested a seed treatment for sunflowers that Bayer CropScience uses today, whose annual sales of about 6.4 billion EURO makes the company one of the world's leading innovative cropscience companies in the area of crop protection, seeds and plant biotechnology.

Williams and his wife Ellen have three children -- Michele Schaaf, Jerome' Williams, and Ira Williams.

He has four brothers and sisters -- Carolyn Williams of Bloomington, Sue Royer of Terre Haute, Mike Williams of Lyons, and Kenny Williams of Bloomington.

Williams is a 1969 graduate of the former L&M High School, and was a member of the 1968 and 1969 Wabash Valley Tournament and sectional basketball championship teams.

"We went to the regional and ended up playing Vincennes both times," Williams recalled.

One year the Braves had to play the Alices on their home court, Adams Coliseum.

"I miss small town sports," Williams noted. "I did radio (broadcasting at the Linton station) before we moved up here."

He was a member of the Linton Jaycees before moving away.

"I joined them in 1969, and we did a lot of volunteer work in the Linton area," Williams said.