FALL 2018 | artsLife 73
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
for its Phase 2 projects, including the 1,700-
seat Steinmetz Hall, a multiform acoustical
theater, and The Green Room, a large rehearsal
and performance space.
These venues, which will complete the
open in 2020.
Williams has also given generously to the
-
paign, and participated in the Name-A-Seat
program to name six seats in the orchestra
section of the Walt Disney Theater for his
grandchildren.
You can already see the Williams name
on the bottom left tier of the Harvey & Carol
Massey Family Grand Staircase in the arts
the Leonard and Marjorie Williams Stage
Door, facing Anderson Street.
by arts center guests. The stage door is the
-
of the Arts at Dr. Phillips Center.
And it all started with 5-cent bags of toasted
peanuts, which were usually dumped into
soft-drink bottles — at least in the Deep South.
“If it gives you a good feeling, then you
should do it,” says Williams, explaining his
philosophy of philanthropy. And having a life
partner whose heart is as expansive as your
own makes giving even more rewarding.
Which brings us to a no-nonsense nurse
named Marjorie Horn.
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trict sales manager, Williams was eligible for
a company-paid executive physical at Baptist
Hospital Nursing School in Winston-Salem,
where Horn was assigned to his case.
swallow castor oil. “I called the doctor and
Hardly a romantic beginning.
telephoned an annoyed Marjorie every
week for 40 weeks until she deigned to speak
with him. Finally, perhaps as exhausted as
she was impressed, she consented to a dinner
date.
Recalls Williams: “She said, ‘Alright. If you
-
tum marked the beginning of an enduring
love story, and a marriage that would last
from cancer in 2015.
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liams and his young family to Florida, where
his territory expanded to include Florida
and east Georgia. Annual sales soared dur-
the time he temporarily retired.
-
-
check. She liked it a lot better after that.”
The Williamses made a life for their family
and had an impact on their community.
Three of their four boys became Eagle
Scouts — Douglas, despite health challenges,
became a Life Scout — and in 2007, the
couple funded the Marjorie and Leonard