Sunday's Obituary: William Russell Will (1916)

Charlotte Observer (NC)
17 January 1916

DEATH OF PROF. WILL

Father of Mrs. D. S. Yates Passes Away in Maryland

Prof William Russell Will, for 35 years teacher of mathematics in Bryant-Stratton College, Baltimore, and father of Mrs. David S. Yates of Charlotte, died Saturday night at the home of his son Rev Theodore S. Will, rector of Trinity Church, Elk Ridge, Md., a suburb of Baltimore. Mrs. Yates and daughter, little Miss Dorothy Sinclair Yates, left last night for Baltimore to attend the funeral.

Mr. Will was in his 75th year. He was a native of New Orleans. Leaving home at the age of 14 years, he traveled extensively over a great portion of the world, returning home in time to enlist in the Confederate Army. It was while he was a soldier in Prince William County, Va., that he met Miss Mildred Sinclair, whom he afterward returned to wed. He taught for a number of years at Manassas and then they moved to Baltimore where for 35 years he held the position of instructor in mathematics at the noted business college. He wrote a number of textbooks on mathematics and used these in teaching. At the age of 72 years he completed his most notable book on the subject, and it was rewarded with much success, the Board of Education of Baltimore requesting him to write another dealing with the subject in a more elementary way so that it could be used in the public schools. Shortly after completing this, in the Summer of 1914, he became ill and underwent an operation, from which he rallied and returned to work. Last Summer he underwent another operation and had since been unable to attend to his duties. Since Thanksgiving he had been confined to his room.

Mr. Will is survived by his wife and seven children, Mr. Allen Sinclair Will city editor of The Philadelphia Public Ledger, Mrs. John M. Norris of Baltimore, Mrs. D. S. Yates of Charlotte, Mr. Harry Will of Baltimore and Rev. Theodore S. Will of Elk Ridge, Md.

Mr. Will was known to a number of Charlotte people. He was a man of delightful personality, uniting genuine culture to genial manners and unaffected courtesy. His high ideals made him a genuine inspiration to young men and his intellectual acuteness and depth  made him a man worth knowing.