Scott A. Williams

• Firefighter/Paramedic
• Argonne National Laboratory Fire Department
• Illinois
• Age: 46
• Year of Death: 2021

Scott A. Williams, born in Chicago on June 19, 1975, lived every day as an adventure of love, laughter, family, and service. The very nucleus of Scott’s universe was his wife and childhood sweetheart, Jennifer, and his children, Anthony and Luka. He would revel in his latest role as a loving grandfather to Oliver and Lincoln.

Scott’s passions spilled over into his family life. His South Side Irish roots would see him reveling on St. Patrick’s Day, dancing on a balcony in New Orleans, or striding through his neighborhood on the 4th of July in a star-spangled outfit. His wife, children, family, and friends were treated daily to a cavalcade of hilarious memes and jokes. The day or the topic did not matter. What did matter was that Scott Williams was a lifeforce that added color, magic, mirth, laughter, and joy to the day. Whether at the workplace, a party, the holidays, or even sitting in the backyard by the campfire, one could not imagine a world that did not have this incredible man in it. Scott’s personality overshadowed pandemics, tragedies, and setbacks. Friends and family knew that things would be alright after spending just a few minutes with him.

Scott always wanted to be a firefighter, but never believed that dream would be realized. He joined the military in 2006 at 31 years old. Scott trained to become a combat medic and deployed to Iraq from 2007 to 2008. Scott served at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait as the senior medic for over 25 evacuations for coalition forces. He also served as a BLS instructor for coalition forces and incoming soldiers while overseas.

After deployment, Scott worked as an ER technician while he went to school for his EMT-Basic license. A career would form shortly after, as he became an EMT-B at various departments while he continued to pursue his Firefighter II certification with East Joliet Fire Department. Tirelessly, he dedicated over 600 hours to clinical and field time while working full-time and still fulfilling his military duties. Scott soon realized his lifelong dream upon gaining his Firefighter certificate. He worked as a contract firefighter at Minooka FPD as a firefighter/EMT-P and as a part-time contract firefighter at Wilmington FPD.

Scott returned to school to finish his bachelor’s degree in fire investigation and went on to serve as a career firefighter/EMT-P at Argonne in 2018. The love affair with the firehouse and his fellow firefighters would bloom. The Dream would come to an all too early halt, as while at Argonne his service came to an end with his line-of-duty death on November 21, 2021.