Maxine Funderburk Williams

Maxine Funderburk Williams, 81, a native and resident of Houma, died Friday, Aug. 31, 2007. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to funeral time Tuesday at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral. Mass will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the church, with interment in St. Francis de Sales Cemetery No. 1. She is survived by three sons, David M. Williams, John D. Williams and Clark T. Williams; one daughter, Madelyn J. Williams; two sisters, Helen Frances Funderburk Kenney and Sylvia Funderburk Schreiner; two grandchildren, Hunter Landgrave and Ross Landgrave; and one great-grandson, Jake M. Landgrave. She was born Sept. 16, 1925, and resided with her parents on Verret Street in Houma, with her grandparents, Judge Hugh M. Wallis and Sylvia Briant Wallis. She attended Lawton Preparatory School until its closure and transferred to Terrebonne High. She attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and received a bachelor of science degree in home economics with a minor in art, studying under noted artist Conrad Albrecio. Years later she helped negotiate the contract with Albrecio for the mosaic mural once prominently displayed on the façade of Citizens’ National Bank. The mosaic has since been relocated to its present home in the downstairs lobby of the Whitney Bank Building. After her graduation from LSU, she accepted a position with New Orleans Public Service and lived with the Edwin Miltenberger family on Third Street in the Garden District. In April 1951, she married Rudolph M. Williams and returned to Houma, where she developed the Broadmoor subdivision with her father and sisters. The family corporation donated the land and buildings for St. Bernadette and Broadmoor schools. A philanthropist and patron of the arts, Williams was a member of the National Council of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She was also a member of Amici, the regional district of the Metropolitan Opera which held auditions at Tulane University. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ochsner Cancer Building Fund, 1514 Jefferson Highway, New Orleans, LA, 70121; attn: Philanthropy Department, Brent House Suite 240.