{"id":312,"date":"2007-10-09T09:51:28","date_gmt":"2007-10-09T14:51:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/09\/activist-loses-battle-with-aids\/"},"modified":"2007-10-09T10:45:15","modified_gmt":"2007-10-09T15:45:15","slug":"activist-loses-battle-with-aids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/09\/activist-loses-battle-with-aids\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist loses battle with AIDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Network has lost one of its own. Stephanie Williams was co-chairwoman of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Gethsemane Baptist Church, 117 Clear Pond Rd., in Bamberg.<\/strong><\/p>\n

stephanie.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephanie Williams<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is a story that ran in today’s paper.
\n<\/em>
\nCrusading S.C. AIDS activist dies<\/strong>
\nBy CZERNE REID<\/p>\n

Stephanie Williams has lost her long, brave struggle with AIDS, but she lives in the memories of many around the state and nation whose lives she touched.<\/p>\n

Williams died Sunday at her mother\u2019s home in Bamberg, with relatives at her bedside. She leaves a son, Brandon, and other family members.<\/p>\n

She fought AIDS not just for her own life, but also for the lives of others. She fought the stigma that leaves many people to die alone rather than seek the help they need. She educated herself about HIV\/AIDS, took on lawmakers about money for HIV prevention and care, and held hands with the dying.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoving thy neighbor as thyself is one of my greatest principles,\u201d the 45-year-old Williams told The State in January.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can help somebody in any way, I\u2019ve always done that to the best of my ability. Even helping folks when they sometimes are afraid to speak their minds \u2014 I\u2019ll be their voice. If they tell me they\u2019ve got problems, I am going to try to help them find the solution to it. If I can\u2019t, I pass them on to somebody who might.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has helped numerous South Carolinians through several organizations, most recently as co-chairwoman of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS. She helped form the short-lived South Carolina Association of People Living With AIDS and was a founder and board chairwoman of the Women\u2019s Resource Center, an organization that in the late 1990s and early 2000s provided a safe place for women who had HIV to find support and learn how to manage the disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago when I was diagnosed, I was impressed by the compassion of some of the people who were providing services to people, and so it encouraged me to try to help folks link to services for HIV,\u201d Williams said in January.<\/p>\n

Since the early 1990s, when she began talking about her diagnosis, Williams has been not just the voice, but the face of women in South Carolina with HIV.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were very few people who would speak out, and Stephanie was it,\u201d said Vivian Clark-Armstead, who directs an HIV-testing program at the South Carolina HIV\/AIDS Council.<\/p>\n

Williams encouraged other women to reveal their status when they felt ready.<\/p>\n

\u201c(She felt that) if we were willing to hide, then people would be willing to forget about us and pretend we didn\u2019t exist,\u201d said Karen Bates, Williams\u2019 longtime friend and fellow activist.<\/p>\n

Williams became an AIDS activist after hearing a speech by Bambi Gaddist, executive director of the S.C. HIV\/AIDS Council.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019m ready to speak out; I\u2019m tired of hiding,\u2019\u201d Gaddist said. \u201cShe represented to me what I pray for with women living with HIV \u2014 that they be empowered, that they would be passionate and that they would speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams won local and national awards for her work, including the Keith D. Cylar Award for AIDS activism from Housing Works, a New York-based organization that helps provide housing and other necessities for people with HIV.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a rare find,\u201d said Charles King, Housing Works president, who will travel from New York for Williams\u2019 funeral. \u201cMany women around the country looked up to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her boundless generosity and warm smile show up in every friend\u2019s remembrance of Williams, who didn\u2019t seem to have co-workers or colleagues, just lots and lots of friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to miss her,\u201d Gaddist said, sobbing. \u201cI just hope that her death is not in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Network has lost one of its own. Stephanie Williams was co-chairwoman of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Gethsemane Baptist Church, 117 Clear Pond Rd., in Bamberg. Stephanie Williams … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-network-newsevents","category-sc-newscommentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}