Mother Geneva Williamson

A Matriarch’s Obituary

Geneva Williamson (née Porter) was born in 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Della Porter, also of Brooklyn, who died when Geneva was one year old. She had little to no information about her father.  However, much later in life, she learned that he died in Baltimore, Maryland in the 1970s, without her ever having met him.  She was raised in Brooklyn by her grandmother, Rhoda Hester Porter, whom she called “Momma.” Momma was, by all accounts, an unflappable, stern, independent woman who raised Geneva and Louise, her first cousin, without help or complaint.  Later in life, when Louise predeceased Geneva, Geneva took in five of Louise’s children long before kinship foster care became subsidized and fashionable.  Louise’s five children joined Geneva’s six children–four from her marital relationship with George Williamson (who predeceased her), and two from her love relationship with Velmon Braswell (who also predeceased her). Together, Geneva and Velmon raised their eleven children (no distinctions were ever made or tolerated) in  a host of Brooklyn residences that became satellites of love and replenishment for friends and family over the course of decades.

Geneva attended New York City public schools, and was one of the pioneering African-American students who integrated Franklin K. Lane High School, from where she graduated in 1951.  After high school, she pursued and attained a career as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). On the road to her career, in May, 1952, she completed a one-year certification course of Instruction and Practice at Wyckoff Heights Hospital School for Practical Nurses, in Brooklyn, New York, and in December of that same year obtained her State University of New York Education Department license to practice as an LPN. Her workplace portfolio for a career that spanned from 1952 to 1998, includes notable stints with Harlem Hospital, Concord Nursing Home and Sea Crest Nursing Home.    

She managed her career while wearing multiple hats as a homemaker and mother to her  eleven children (and about half a dozen add-on children).  In addition, she opened up her home and welcomed friends and family who came north, needed to reset, had come to the end of their proverbial road or just needed someone to lean on for whatever the reason. Dean Street, Madison Street, Hart Street, Hancock Street, Franklin Avenue (to name a sampling) became safe, non-judgmental spaces where Geneva welcomed you to lay your head (sometimes for months), play bid whist, enjoy a “taste,” eat some food, listen to music, and cry until it turned into laughter–all for no charge. Her love language was service without judgment, and her core values were: love everybody, judge no one and take advantage of none, especially when it is easy to do so.  

In 1994, she acted on the invitation of one of her children to visit the then Pilgrim Church of East New York (now Pilgrim Cathedral of East New York). Shortly after, she joined and came to know God for herself.  She was a present and active member of the church’s Mothers’ Board and exhibited the same empathetic, selfless personality to her new friends as she had throughout all of her life. Eventually, deteriorating physical health and the Covid-19 era relegated her to only remote interaction with church.  Even then, she became tech-savvy enough to express herself through encouraging words and emojis online to make her continued, supportive presence known.  Her Pilgrim Cathedral of East New York family held a special place in Mother Williamson’s heart.

When on July 1, 2024, in the midst of hospice care at home, she transitioned to rest from her labors and pain, she had indisputably lived a wonderful, full, impactful life–ninety-0ne years strong, ninety-0ne years wise, ninety-one years tough and ninety-one years blessed.  To the very end, she loved each of her children so uniquely and wholesomely that each still thinks he or she is the favorite. Her matriarchal legacy that ensures that Geneva “is” and will never be Geneva “was” consists of: 6 biological children, George Norman Williamson (married to Sharman), Nathan Williamson (who predeceased her), Kim Edward Williamson (who predeceased her), Jeanette Marie Williamson, Jeffery Williamson (married to Valaria) and Duane Williamson (married to Cassandra); 24 grandchildren (listed elsewhere in the program); 32 great-grandchildren (listed elsewhere in the program); and 5 great-great grandchildren (listed elsewhere in the program)--not to mention dozens of “other children” who call her “Mom.”  Here’s to her macaroni and cheese recipe continuing to pass down through the generations. Here’s hoping her penchant for jigsaw puzzles and voracious appetite for reading will inspire some of the younguns to take a break from social media. More importantly, may her example of humanity make us more compassionate; her strength of character empower us to be ourselves; her joy of life no matter the circumstances, push us to persevere; her love of God, make us curious enough to want to learn more about Him. May she rest in the power with which she willed herself to live. 

Lovingly submitted,

On Behalf of the Matriarchal Legacy

of Geneva Williamson

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