Services set for Williams

Wednesday, March 31, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

Services for jazz singer Joe Williams, who died Monday while walking home from Sunrise Hospital where he had been treated for a respiratory ailment, will be held at 11:30 a.m. on April 7 at the First Church of Religious Science, 1420 E. Harmon Ave.

Williams, 80, had been admitted to the hospital on Maryland Parkway one week ago. He left the hospital without checking out, walked three miles toward his home before he collapsed on the street and died a few blocks from his home.

The former singer for the Count Basie Orchestra had told his wife he wanted to leave the hospital over the weekend.

Williams, a Las Vegas resident for 31 years, performed alongside jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Lena Horne.

In 1993, he performed at the White House for President Clinton.

"Hillary and I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of jazz and blues great Joe Williams," Clinton said Tuesday. "He was a national treasure. For the better part of this century, America was blessed with Joe Williams' smooth baritone voice and peerless interpretations of our favorite ballads."

The family suggests anyone wishing to make a donation to the Joe Williams Scholarship Fund send their check payable to the Board of Regents and specify Joe Williams Scholarship Fund in the memo area.

Checks may be mailed to:

Financial Aid Office (attn. Lily Alvarez), Community College of Southern Nevada, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave., North Las Vegas, NV, 89030.