Kenneth Ray Williamson

Kenneth Ray Williamson, a retired Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, died Saturday, March 14 at the age of 81. He passed away at his home in Rochester after a long battle with metastatic cancer. Doctor Williamson is survived by his wife, Martha Hale Williamson; their daughter, Anne Miller of Morrisville, North Carolina; and son, Douglas Williamson (Tanya) of Plymouth, Wisconsin; and four treasured grandchildren: Meghan Miller and Catherine, Carl, and Margaret Williamson. He is also survived by his younger sisters, Lynn Didier of Rochester, and Kathryn Harvey (Michael) of Long Boat Key, Florida.

Ken was born April 8, 1938 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Kenneth Raymond Williamson and Annabel Ranney Williamson. His father was a telephone lineman and union leader in Aberdeen before joining Sears Roebuck in 1950. This precipitated a series of moves that resulted in Ken and his sisters attending seven schools in five different Midwest cities in the span of four years, culminating in the family's arrival in Rochester in the spring of 1954, Ken's sophomore year of high school. Ken was always grateful for the warm welcome he received from Rochester High School and the greater Rochester community and, thereafter, considered Rochester to be his hometown.

Ken was also an athlete, distinguishing himself in both football and track and field. He served proudly as a member of the Rochester High School 1954 and 1955 Big 9 Champion football teams that also claimed the 1955 One Class State Championship awarded by the Minneapolis Tribune. He also won individual high school track district and region quarter mile championships in 1955 and 1956.

Ken attended the University of Minnesota for three years before entering the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1959. He began his medical career with a one-year internship at the University of West Virginia Medical Center. He then entered the U.S. Army, serving as a Captain in the Medical Corp for twenty-six months. He began a fellowship in pathology at the Mayo Clinic in the fall of 1966 and, after completing his four-year fellowship, spent eighteen months as an associate consultant in Transfusion Medicine and Surgical Pathology.

After eight years as a general pathologist at St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, he rejoined the Mayo staff as a Laboratory Medicine Consultant in 1980, retiring as Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine in 1995. He showed his support for organized pathology with stints as President of the Twin Cities Society of Pathologists and President of the Minnesota Society of Pathologists.

In retirement, he was able to fully indulge his passion for the art and sport of fly fishing, spending many happy hours angling for trout and smallmouth bass in the rivers and streams of Southeastern Minnesota and Montana.

His family would like to thank Mayo Clinic Hospice, especially Laces Vaughn. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Ken's name to the Mayo Foundation. A private service will be held at a later date. Online condolences are welcome and may be written at mahnfamilyfuneralhome.com.