This Saturday: Marge Williams Center Celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a Community Open House, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Marge Williams Center is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a Community Open House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 16. The familiar red building is located at 221 Winslow Way West in Downtown Winslow.
Friends, supporters, community members and past nonprofit tenants are invited to attend the celebration, which will include brief acknowledgements, displays and refreshments. The event recognizes the Center’s 25 years of service to Bainbridge Island nonprofits and the community.
Founded in 2001, the Marge Williams Center was created to honor the life and legacy of Marge Williams, a longtime island civic leader and businesswoman. Following her death in 1998, the Bainbridge Island community came together to transform her former home into a permanent center for nonprofit organizations. The Center provides affordable office space and a professional, collaborative environment. Many island nonprofits have started at the Marge Center, grown and “fledged out” to space elsewhere.
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Originally from Hawley, Minn., Marjory Wyland Williams moved to Bainbridge Island in 1957 and become a popular fixture in local civic affairs.
She and her husband ran a small gift shop from building’s first floor. After her husband passed away, she resided in the apartment above the gift shop, retiring in 1989 to community service and occasional travel abroad.
Williams remained a well-known figure around town and became landlord to the Bainbridge Island Review newspaper when it moved into the downstairs space below her apartment. The former City Councilwoman met with a tragic ending at 77 years old when she was found brutally murdered in the upstairs apartment on August 20, 1998, after being beaten to death with multiple blows to the head. The Kitsap County Coroner’s Office ruled her death a homicide, and police noted there was no sign of forced entry, suggesting she may have known her attacker.
According to The Seattle Times archive.seattletimes.com, the killer was identified as a 45‑year‑old transient who had painted Williams’ building for her. Prosecutors alleged that the killing was part of a 10‑day, alcohol‑fueled crime spree that began when Williams paid him to paint the building. Forensic evidence, including a reddish‑brown stain on a golf club, tied the intruder to the crime.
He was arrested in Kitsap County Jail in August 1998 and charged with first‑degree murder. He pleaded not guilty and was held on $750,000 bail. In 2001, he was convicted of aggravated first‑degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, serving his sentence at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe seattlepi.com.
Following Williams’ tragic passing, the community was in shock but eventually rallied around the idea put forth by long-time personal friend Ed Kushner – and others – to transform her former home into a center catering to the needs of some of the island’s fledgling nonprofits.
Today, the Marge Williams Center is home to some of the island’s most impactful nonprofit organizations. Current office tenants include One Call for All, Arts & Humanities Bainbridge; Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association; Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation; West Sound PAWS; Bainbridge Youth Services; Madrona School; Sustainable Bainbridge, and Bainbridge Prepares. The center provides mailbox space to community nonprofits including Bainbridge Conservation Coalition, Bainbridge Island Genealogical Society, Friends of Little Manzanita Bay, Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island and Squeaky Wheels.
Over the past quarter century, the Marge Williams Center has become a cornerstone of Bainbridge Island’s nonprofit community, fostering collaboration and sustaining the civic spirit that defined Marge Williams’ life and work.
The May 16 open house continues that tradition. Community members are encouraged to stop by, meet the organizations that call the center home and help celebrate 25 years of community service.
Event details:
What: Marge Williams Center 25th Anniversary Celebration and Open House
When: 11 a.m.–1 p.m., Saturday, May 16
Where: 221 Winslow Way W., Bainbridge Island
Who: Friends, supporters and the community are invited
For more information, visit www.margecenter.org
Source Materials: Marge Williams Center, plus The Seattle Times and Seattle PI newspaper accounts
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One Comment
Kevin,
Thanks very much for this great article and wonderful tribute to Marge Williams.
Dave Thorne