Helen W. Williams

Helen White Williams was born on October 1, 1923, in Manor, Texas.¹ In 1950, she and her husband, Eugene Williams applied for positions they found in the classified ads to work for Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, in Austin, Texas.² They continued  to work for the Johnsons for decades  and moved with them to the White House when Johnson became president in 1963. Prior to the White House years, “Williams served as a cook, maid, scheduler, travel aide, wardrobe coordinator and surrogate mother to the Johnson daughters,” but from 1963-1969, she primarily served as a lady’s maid and housekeeper for Mrs. Johnson, assisting with her schedule and wardrobe.³ 

Williams, Eugene, and the Johnsons’ personal cook, Zephyr Wright, also helped inform the president’s stance on Civil Rights. The three of them often shared their experiences with segregation and discrimination, and Johnson often relayed those first-hand accounts to other politicians when lobbying for civil rights legislation. In fact, he once told her: “Helen, I am going to do all I can to get this voting rights bill through because of people like you and Zephyr and Gene. I feel that you and people like you have a right to the American way of life as well as anyone else.”⁴

After Johnson’s presidency, Helen and Eugene Williams remained in D.C. and she worked for the medical affairs division of the State Department. Outside of work, she was an active member of the Zion Baptist Church.⁵ Williams passed away on February 25, 2005, and was buried at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.⁶