Sunday Meeting – Fritz Williams: “Kayla and Me”
Sunday, July 30, 2017 – 11:00 am
New York Society for Ethical Culture
2 W 64th St, New York, NY 10025
Ceremonial Hall – 4th floor
Fritz reflects on his relationship with Kayla, his granddaughter who is serving a four-year sentence as an accomplice to a violent crime. She and her boyfriend became addicted to heroin, and she was waiting for him in their car (the car they were living in) while he pretended he had a gun and attempted to rob a convenience store. Fritz wrote to the judge , but failed in his attempt to secure a more moderate sentence, and every six weeks now, he makes a 700-mile round trip to visit her at a women’s prison near Erie, PA, and every week he writes a letter–135 letters so far and counting.
In his 80s Fritz Williams is enjoying his fourth career. In the 1960s he worked as a parish priest at Episcopal churches in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA. In the 1970s he wrote and produced educational programs and documentaries at WITF-TV (PBS), Harrisburg, PA. In the 1980s he helped create a media and community campaign at WTVS-TV (PBS), Detroit, calling attention to the needs of young people in that troubled and racially divided metro area. In the 1990s and the opening decade of the 21st century, he served two terms as leader of the Baltimore Ethical Society. Currently, he is attempting to express his deepest and most personal memories, ideas, and fantasies in writing- prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction.
This week’s shared charity: Prisoner Visitation and Support
