January 2008 Issue
OBITUARIES
Allen Dale Williams, P.Eng.
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ALLEN WILLIAMS, P.ENG. |
Allen Dale Williams, P.Eng., the Alberta one-man show who grew into a leader in the engineering consulting industry, died in an Oct. 28 small plane crash. The Edmonton resident was piloting a Cessna 172 when it went down near Golden, B.C. He had just turned 65.
The crash also claimed Steven Sutton, 49, the chief financial officer for A.D. Williams Engineering Ltd. A third person in the plane, Mr. Williams’ three-year-old granddaughter, miraculously survived a crash that was front-page news across the country.
It was one of two small plane crashes taking the lives of prominent APEGGA members over the same weekend in the same area of B.C. See other story, this page.
Mr. Williams founded the engineering consulting company A.D. Williams Engineering Inc. When he started the company in 1978, he was the only staff person and had no clients to speak of.
Thirty years later, the CEO was retiring from a corporation that had grown to include five offices across Western Canada and the Northwest Territories, and to employ more than 160 staff.
Graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in 1965 with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, Mr. Williams quickly took to his new professional community. He was first a member of then served as president of the Consulting Engineers of Alberta. In 2004 he was named chairperson of the board of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada.
Aside from a passion for engineering and business, Mr. Williams loved adventure.
He could often be found sailing, canoeing, skiing, cycling, backpacking or, of
course, flying.
A pilot since his teen years, Mr. Williams at once time entertained making it
his career. Although he chose engineering, he didn’t have to give up flying.
In fact, it helped develop and define his company.
With a business plan and a plane, Mr. Williams grew his one-man show into a broad-based consulting company with projects all over the world. The projects all posed interesting challenges.
Some, like the Ekati mines in the Northwest Territories, involved working in extreme cold. Another, a diesel generating station in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, took the company to the other end of the thermometer.
Mr. Williams leaves behind his wife, three children and two grandchildren. Donations in his name may be made to the Allen Williams Memorial Fund, which will support search and rescue in the Golden area.
Send cheques and make them payable to
GOLDEN AND DISTRICT
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
BOX 1485
GOLDEN BC V0H 1H0