The Network has lost one of its own. Stephanie Williams was co-chairwoman of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Gethsemane Baptist Church, 117 Clear Pond Rd., in Bamberg.

Stephanie Williams

Here is a story that ran in today’s paper.

Crusading S.C. AIDS activist dies
By CZERNE REID

Stephanie Williams has lost her long, brave struggle with AIDS, but she lives in the memories of many around the state and nation whose lives she touched.

Williams died Sunday at her mother’s home in Bamberg, with relatives at her bedside. She leaves a son, Brandon, and other family members.

She fought AIDS not just for her own life, but also for the lives of others. She fought the stigma that leaves many people to die alone rather than seek the help they need. She educated herself about HIV/AIDS, took on lawmakers about money for HIV prevention and care, and held hands with the dying.

“Loving thy neighbor as thyself is one of my greatest principles,” the 45-year-old Williams told The State in January.

“If I can help somebody in any way, I’ve always done that to the best of my ability. Even helping folks when they sometimes are afraid to speak their minds — I’ll be their voice. If they tell me they’ve got problems, I am going to try to help them find the solution to it. If I can’t, I pass them on to somebody who might.”

She has helped numerous South Carolinians through several organizations, most recently as co-chairwoman of the South Carolina Campaign to End AIDS. She helped form the short-lived South Carolina Association of People Living With AIDS and was a founder and board chairwoman of the Women’s Resource Center, an organization that in the late 1990s and early 2000s provided a safe place for women who had HIV to find support and learn how to manage the disease.

“Years ago when I was diagnosed, I was impressed by the compassion of some of the people who were providing services to people, and so it encouraged me to try to help folks link to services for HIV,” Williams said in January.

Since the early 1990s, when she began talking about her diagnosis, Williams has been not just the voice, but the face of women in South Carolina with HIV.

“There were very few people who would speak out, and Stephanie was it,” said Vivian Clark-Armstead, who directs an HIV-testing program at the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council.

Williams encouraged other women to reveal their status when they felt ready.

“(She felt that) if we were willing to hide, then people would be willing to forget about us and pretend we didn’t exist,” said Karen Bates, Williams’ longtime friend and fellow activist.

Williams became an AIDS activist after hearing a speech by Bambi Gaddist, executive director of the S.C. HIV/AIDS Council.

“She said, ‘I’m ready to speak out; I’m tired of hiding,’” Gaddist said. “She represented to me what I pray for with women living with HIV — that they be empowered, that they would be passionate and that they would speak.”

Williams won local and national awards for her work, including the Keith D. Cylar Award for AIDS activism from Housing Works, a New York-based organization that helps provide housing and other necessities for people with HIV.

“She was a rare find,” said Charles King, Housing Works president, who will travel from New York for Williams’ funeral. “Many women around the country looked up to her.”

Her boundless generosity and warm smile show up in every friend’s remembrance of Williams, who didn’t seem to have co-workers or colleagues, just lots and lots of friends.

“I’m going to miss her,” Gaddist said, sobbing. “I just hope that her death is not in vain.”