Community remembers fallen White Lake firefighter

WHITE LAKE, NC (WWAY) — The Town of White Lake remembered volunteer firefighter Mildred Gray Williams on Wednesday.

Williams fell to her death Tuesday while doing construction on the Bladen County Water Rescue building.

“Everybody knows her by Gray,” Tammy Black, who was good friends with Williams, said.

When Tammy Black says everybody, she’s not kidding.

“Once you meet Gray, she doesn’t meet a stranger,” Black said.

Williams works for a construction company, but was known as a volunteer with the White Lake Fire Department and Bladen County Water Rescue.

The Bladen County Sheriff’s Office says Williams was replacing metal roofing on the Bladen County Water Rescue building when she fell around 15 feet to her death.

“It is a blow to our community,” Mayor Goldston Womble said.

Womble says the town is very tight knit. He says a loss like Williams hits hard.

“You can’t over emphasize the fact that this is not a paid employee,” Womble said. “This is someone who is doing this out kindness, a sense of community and good heartedness.”

To those who knew her, that’s exactly how they describe Williams.

“Anything that had to do with the fire department, Gray wanted to give it her all,” Black said. “She wanted to help everybody.”

Black says her heart was in helping others.

“Gray had that special something,” she said. “I don’t think there is a business down here that she didn’t go into and help.”

Williams wore many hats here. Most importantly, Black says they are losing a rock in the community.

“But for her, we’re going to, as she would say, stand strong and kick booty and keep moving, because that’s what she would want,” she said.

Everyone at the fire department says Williams was family, and her legacy will live on.

Funeral services for Williams will be held Friday afternoon.