By Marianne Weaver
Kevin Williams
Veteran. CEO. Father.
Kevin Williams wears many hats, all of which contribute to the betterment of his community.
Raised in a military family, Williams bounced from house to house as the Navy sent his father to assignments from New York to California … and many other stops in between. An Army veteran himself, he even spent some time in Germany.
“My dad was in the Navy and stationed in Bethesda, and he found this little community called Dale City,” recalled Williams. “He bought a home here and here is where we’ve been ever since.”
Although he met his wife, Meschelle, while attending Gar-Field Senior High School in Woodbridge, they didn’t connect until years later.
“She was friends with my sister,” he said. “We went on our first date New Year’s Eve 1982, got engaged in 1983 and married at the Star of Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Triangle by the late great Reverend Dr. Frederick S. Jones April 28, 1984 at 4:00 p. m.”
They are now members of First Mount Zion Baptist Church and have been since 1979.
Together, they have built a life: Three daughters, 12.5 grandchildren, a host of foster sons and three businesses.
All about Family
The Williams family settled in Dale City. Their three daughters—Charri, Lyndzee and Sharron—all live nearby.
“We found a place to put down some roots,” he said “The neighbors were friendly, and the community was growing. My wife Meschelle’s family was from here, so we decided to stay here with everyone else. It’s all about family.”
For Williams, though, family isn’t limited to his biological family. He and his wife have fostered many boys over about a 16-year period.
“We made a conscious decision to have just boys,” he said, noting that they set some very specific parameters regarding his daughters. “We were fortunate enough to foster a bunch of wonderful young men who needed some love, discipline and direction, and to be exposed to a family that was whole and not broken and tattered.”
The boys found their way into his home from many different, but difficult, paths. Some boys aged out of the system, some were adopted, some returned to their families. Many came with juvenile records … but none left with any.
“They left here with their records expunged,” said Williams, who said his family’s goal was always to do more than merely provide room and board. He expected his boys to do the same things any child in Prince William is expected to do: they had chores, they earned allowances, and they played sports, did marching band, and maintained good grades. And when the boys had to go before the court, Williams said they did something not all foster families do: They showed up. “We would stand up as their foster parents and tell the court about a day in the life of the that child, and how far they had come.”
As a result, he said, records were expunged. All the boys graduated from high school. Some have college degrees.
“None are in jail; none on drugs; all productive citizens,” he said. “They did not end up being the negatively stigmatized foster child society has come to know.”
Building a Business … or Three
After separating from the military, Williams spent several years in exterior building restoration before transitioning into information technology. He founded TekConnX LLC (pronounced “Tek-Connects”) in 2013. The company designs, builds and maintains collaborative audio visual IT solutions, social media business intelligence solutions, data mining and analytics, ProActive Threat and Gunshot Detection Security Solutions and SmartTrash Management Solutions.
His wife Meschelle founded Precious Bookworm STEAM learning center. Unlike some daycares that merely care for children, children attending Precious Bookworm are introduced to science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics applications and concepts through play. They recently opened “Lives2Save,” a CPR and first-aid training and certification company.
“This is who we are; we are Prince William County,” said Kevin. “If we didn’t like it, we would not have chosen to be here with our own children who are now raising their own families, our oldest daughter with foster children. We think this is an awesome place worthy of growing and raising a family, even if the people being raised are not your own.”
Marianne Weaver (mweaver@princewilliamliving.com) is a contributing writer for Prince William Living.
