FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 04/25/2008

R.I. Supreme Court Chief Justice To Deliver

Bridgewater Commencement

BRIDGEWATER, Va. — The Honorable Frank J. Williams, chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and noted Abraham Lincoln scholar, will deliver the 2008 commencement address, "Leadership for Today and the Future: The Example of Abraham Lincoln," at Bridgewater College, 2 p.m., on Sunday, May 11.

Nearly 400 seniors are expected to receive degrees at the commencement exercises, which will take place on the campus mall. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in Nininger Hall.

The Rev. Judy Mills Reimer, a member of the Bridgewater College board of trustees, will deliver the message at the 10 a.m. baccalaureate service in Nininger Hall. She will speak on "Cheering From the Balcony."

Williams was appointed chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court by Gov. Lincoln Almond and unanimously confirmed by the Rhode Island General Assembly in January 2001, after serving for five years as associate justice of the Superior Court.

Born and reared in Cranston, R.I., Williams received his bachelor's degree in government and history from Boston University in 1962. He served for nearly five years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of captain. During this time, he served in Germany and Vietnam, receiving many awards and decorations, including the Bronze Star, three Air Medals, an Army Commendation Medal, two Vietnamese Campaign Medals and a Combat Infantryman's Badge. He was also decorated by the Republic of Vietnam with the Gallantry Cross with Silver Star for valor.

Returning to Rhode Island after his discharge, Williams entered Boston University School of Law and graduated in 1970. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1970, and to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar in 1976. He is currently an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University School of Law and the U.S. Naval War College.

Williams is also one of the nation's leading scholars on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. In August 2000, he was appointed to the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission by the U.S.

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Congress. His latest book, with Harold Holzer and Edna Greene Medford, The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views: Social, Political, Iconographic, was published in 2006.

He has been named by Lawdragon as one of the top 500 judges (out of 30,000) in the United States.

Reimer, who has been a member of the Bridgewater College board of trustees since 2004, is the founding pastor of the Smith Mountain Lake Church of the Brethren, a writer, businesswoman, teacher and dedicated volunteer leader.

A 1962 graduate of Emory & Henry College, she was active in the Brethren Volunteer Service at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and in Hessish Lichtenau, Germany. Reimer also worked as a public and private school teacher until 1976 when she and her husband, George, became owners of Harris Office Furniture Co., Inc., in Roanoke. She served as senior vice president, and the business is still owned by their son, Troy, and his business partner.

Reimer earned a master of divinity degree from Bethany Theological Seminary in 1994 and that same year was ordained into the Church of the Brethren's set-apart ministry. She has served in numerous volunteer leadership roles at the COB's district and national levels, including two years as chair of the COB General Board. In 1995, Reimer served as moderator for the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, the denomination's highest elected post.

In addition to assuming denominational duties in China, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, Uganda and Zimbabwe, Reimer has represented the Church of the Brethren in Castener, Puerto Rico when signing over the church's land to the Castener Church and Hospital; represented the COB in Atlanta, Ga., at the signing of "The Torch of Conscience Campaign," designed to sensitize congregations to the Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty; and has written articles for the denominational magazine, Messenger.

Bridgewater College, a private, four-year liberal arts college, enrolls more than 1,500 students. Founded in 1880 and located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, it was the state's first private, coeducational senior college.

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