Electric lineman killed on job remembered for infectious personality

Mitchell Williams, 46, of Dunn, was part of a Lee Electrical Construction Inc. crew shifting power lines to accommodate the widening of Ray Road, and officials said he was reconnecting a transformer when he came in contact with a 7,200-volt line.

"He loved construction work. That's the only thing he loved to do, climb that pole," said his sister, Saunder Thompson.

His mother, Sarah Artis, said she last spoke with Williams Wednesday as he was heading to church.

"He was a loving son, an awesome son to me," Artis said.

Going to the hospital on Thursday was a difficult but all-too-familiar trip for her, Artis said.

"My baby son, he got killed at his job, and the next, my husband, he got killed on the way to his job, and this one, my third one, he got killed at his job," she said.

Still, family members said Friday that they want to remember how Williams lived rather than how he died. He loved his job and his family and had an infectious smile and personality, they said.

"His smile, oh my gosh, he could light up the room," Thompson said. "If you ever needed anything, he'd give you the last shirt off his back – everything. He was someone I went to. I lost my father, (and) he was like next in line. That's how close he was to me."