Margaret Elizabeth Mercer Williams

• Born: 1936
• Married: Hilbert Jerome Williams on Nob. 19, 1960

Margaret's children with Hilbert Williams
Johnny Jerome Williams
Tammie Elizabeth Williams Blackburn

In Duplin County, N.C., on Sept. 30, 1936, there was a little girl born to Beulah Stancil and Flave Mercer. They named her Margaret Elizabeth. She got the middle name Elizabeth from her daddy's mother.

She was always very tiny (until she passed 30) but she was always healthy. There were four children before her, Fannie Jean (1931-1931); Reuben Earl (1932); Ann (1934-2012); A.R. (1935- 2013).

The little farm house was very full of little feet, a lot of love and plenty of food. Flave was a farmer but to keep everyone fed in the winter, he would go to Camp Davis at Holly Ridge and work as a carpenter. Mama had all she could do to keep us four in school, raise chickens for food and eggs, tend a big garden and help daddy on the farm with feeding livestock.

The house was small but they all managed fine. In the mid-40s, Flave had gotten our little farm paid off and he began to think about building mama's dream house with plenty of room and next to the highway. In 1947, it was completed and the family moved in.

"In 1949, another little girl was born. They named her Wanda. I was so happy to know that I would not be the baby anymore,” Margaret said.

After Margaret graduated from Beulaville High School in 1954, she went to work in a sewing store in Beulaville, N.C. Later she went to work at the Duplin County Clerk's Office in Kenansville, N.C. “It was during this time that I started dating Hilbert,” Margaret said. Hilbert was also born in Duplin County to a small farmer and his wife, Mollie Brown and John Edward Williams on Sept. 20, 1936. He had two older sisters Dorothy (1921-2006) and Madeline (Skinner) (1922- 2012). He graduated from Chinquapin High School in 1954 and went to work with the DuPont Company in Kinston; N.C. that fall and worked until he retired in 1991 with 36 years' service. In the fall of 1958, Margaret went to work at DuPont.

"We were married at my parent's house on Nov. 19, 1960,” Margaret said. “It was a small wedding with only family and a few close friends. I was married in a blue suit which I made. The Rev. Joe Ingram did the ceremony after which we had a small reception. Then we left on our honeymoon. We went to Florida for a week. When we got back home, we stayed with his mama for about two weeks while our house was being finished.” After 57 years, they are still living in the same house. In 1980, we did some adding on and remodeling.

Margaret and Hilbert started their family in 1966 when son Johnny was born. Margaret could not leave him and go back to DuPont so she decided to stay home and be a mom. They built two poultry houses and she took care of them while Hilbert was at work. In 1970, they were blessed with a little girl named Tammie.

As the children grew, they loved to go to amusement parks and ride all the rides, so that was where they always went on vacation. After the children got older and finished high school and were attending college, they began to do more of our kind of vacationing. Margaret and Hilbert love to ride and just see all the different landscapes.

"We had a special couple, Ray and Jan Lanier, that we double dated with and they traveled with us most everywhere we went,” Margaret said. “We traveled in 49 of the 50 states and several of the Canadian Providences. We would not fly so we had to miss Hawaii. We even drove all the way to Alaska and back. We came back on the Alaskan Highway. We really enjoyed that trip."

In 1994, another change came into their lives — they became grandparents and as they say that is the best. Johnny married Rose Thigpen in 1988 and they gave birth to a son named Taylor. Then in 1996, they had a girl and they named her Carson. Tammie married Michael Blackburn in 1993 and in 1998 they had twin boys Austin and Joshua.

All four of the grandkids graduated from East Duplin High School.

"I would publicly like to thank God for my years growing up, the values I was taught and my faith in God that was passed on to me by my parents," Margaret said. "Also thank God for putting Hilbert and I together as husband and wife and the 57 years we have lived together."