The widow of a past chair of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies Canada awarded a young professional the first scholarship in honour of her late husband, who died in a plane crash.
ACEC-Canada
Whistler
The widow of a past chair of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies (ACEC) Canada awarded the first scholarship to a young professional in honour of her late husband, who died in a plane crash.
“I am very pleased to be here,” said Dorothy Williams at the chairman’s dinner, which marked the closing of the ACEC’s 2009 summit and conference at Whistler, B.C.
“First, I would like to express appreciation to those who donated money and to Leon, who was the first to give up his hair, and Jeff who was so quick to join in.”
Williams awarded the first $5,000 Allan Williams scholarship to Kristal Unterschulz, from Edmonton, who was unable to attend the dinner.
The ACEC created the Allen D. Williams Scholarship Foundation to enable an outstanding young professional to attend the annual conference of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers.
FIDIC (the acronym stands for the French version of the name) represents the international consulting engineering industry.
A total of $23,500 was raised for the scholarship when Leon Botham shaved his head last year.
When ACEC president Jeff Morrison joined Botham in shaving his head in Whistler this year, they raised another $37,000.
Botham said the goal is to raise $100,000 so the interest could cover the cost of sending a young professional to the conference into perpetuity.
“This cause was close to his heart,” said Williams. “Allen spent a lot of time meeting and talking to young engineers. He encouraged them to get into this career. Canada is blessed with talent that needs to be nurtured. He would have been pleased to award the scholarship.”
Allen D. Williams was the founder and chief executive officer of Edmonton-based A.D. Williams Engineering Inc.
The sixty-five year died when the plane he was piloting crashed in rugged terrain near Golden B.C., during a trip to Edmonton in October 2007. It also killed Steven Sutton, the firm’s chief financial officer.
The two men were attending a business retreat in Golden.
Miraculously, the only occupant to survive the crash was William’s three-year-old granddaughter, Kate Williams, who rescuers found hanging upside down in the wreckage in a child safety seat.
Reagan Williams, 41, became the new president of the firm after his father was killed. In a cruel and tragic turn of events, he died about six month’s later in a plane crash.
Five people were killed when a plane piloted by Williams crashed on March 28, 2008 near Wainwright, Alberta.
The crash of the company owned plane also claimed the lives of Phil Allard, the company’s chief financial officer, and Rhonda Quirke, another company executive.
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