Born at the Waimea Dispensary, Kauai, and raised on the Garden Isle, Harwood Danford “Dan” Williamson (1932-2013) was the son of T. B. Williamson, a U.S. Navy officer stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time of his birth. A graduate
Born at the Waimea Dispensary, Kauai, and raised on the Garden Isle, Harwood Danford “Dan” Williamson (1932-2013) was the son of T. B. Williamson, a U.S. Navy officer stationed at Pearl Harbor at the time of his birth.
A graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., T. B. Williamson was awarded the Navy Cross during World War II — the Navy and Marine Corps’ second highest decoration for valor — while serving as an aircraft carrier captain, and retired as a Vice Admiral.
Dan’s mother, Alys Williamson, also born in Waimea, was the daughter of William Danford, who immigrated to Hawaii from Ireland in 1894, started off as a sugar boiler on Oahu, and advanced in the sugar industry to become the manager of Kekaha Sugar Co. from 1928 to 1935.
Growing up on Kauai, Dan Williamson enjoyed an outdoor life of activities, such as goat hunting along the Na Pali Coast with Waimea friends Alan Faye Jr. and Alan’s cousin, Tony Faye, as well as fishing on the beach and camping.
In 1950, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.
When he learned that his mother had asked his father, then Admiral Williamson, to use his influence to get him a noncombat assignment, he wanted no part of it, and served instead in combat in Korea during the Korean War as a machine gunner.
Following his military service he attended Stanford University, where he graduated in 1956 with a B.S. in electrical engineering, and joined Hawaiian Electric Co., Honolulu soon after as a design engineer.
At HECO, he worked his way up to the top just as his grandfather had done in the sugar business years earlier, and retired in 1995 as the president and CEO of his company.
Dan Williamson and his wife, Nancy, had three children: Warren, Julie and Binney Williamson.
