‘No one better’ than Michael Williams for School Committee

January 24, 2025

For my wife Debbie and me, developing a friendship with Dr. Michael Williams and his wife, Clary, has been one of the most delightful things about our move to Concord. We first got to know Michael and Clary through our common advocacy efforts in town, and since that time I have learned that Michael is more than just an articulate advocate for causes dear to my heart — which alone is no small achievement. He also possesses a unique combination of characteristics not found in many people: extreme intelligence, the capacity for disciplined decision-making, and a very warm heart.

This unique combination obviously served him well in his long career as a general and pediatric surgeon. In sometimes perilous circumstances, people came to depend upon Michael’s skills and wisdom in ways that most of us scarcely dare to imagine. His and Clary’s own four children — all of whom were educated here in Concord, in our public schools — can also attest, so I have learned, to the benefits of having such a gifted father.

And now he is running for a School Committee spot. I can think of no one better. I recently learned that he and I were the first members of our families to receive degrees in higher education. I can say from my own experience that one develops a keen appreciation for the importance of education when the receipt of, and success at, such demanding and rewarding instruction cannot be assumed. In Michael’s case, I know, that awareness informed him when, after completing an accelerated schedule at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and receiving his medical doctorate from Tufts, he in turn held teaching positions at the Harvard and Albert Einstein College schools of medicine.

It is great pride, and gratitude, that I will vote for him on April 8.

Craig Awmiller

Lang Street