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Gulfport to honor mayors with renamed pierBy PATRICK COOPER © St. Petersburg Times, published January 21, 2001 GULFPORT -- The pier on Shore Drive S soon will be named in honor of two former mayors -- Bert Williams and his father Capt. Walter Williams. "It seems fit that their memory should be carried on," Mayor Michael J. Yakes said during Tuesday's council meeting. Bert Williams, 87, served as mayor from 1987 to 1991 after serving as a Council member for 12 years. Walter Williams, who died in 1957 at age 70, served the city for 20 years and was mayor from 1946 to 1948. Council member Jack B. Olsen said he recently visited Bert Williams in a nursing home and, when he asked if he could do anything for the former mayor, Williams' reply pleasantly surprised him. "No, there isn't anything you can do for me," Olsen said was Williams' reply. "Is there anything I can do for Gulfport?" Also speaking at the meeting was Bob Burke, who served on the council when Bert Williams was mayor. Burke remembered he went out to lunch with Williams to see what the mayor was like, and Burke came away with an indelible impression of the mayor's care for the city. "He said, "You talk pretty good, but if you do what's right for the city of Gulfport, we'll get along great. But if you don't, I'll be all over your ... ,' " Burke said at the council meeting, laughing. "I'll leave the rest to your imagination." Burke credited Williams with "making Gulfport a great city." "Today people are proud to say they live in Gulfport. Bert Williams was the catalyst to start the ball rolling on that." The pier naming will be done during a celebration later this year.
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