MATTOON - The community lost a citizen and gained a hero on a very cold day in January 1982, said Principal Les Edwards. Edwards and many others paid tribute Saturday to that hero, Arland D. Williams, ...

COLES COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — As the nation mourns the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2009, a Coles County town remembers another deadly aviation incident — and a local hero. Wednesday night, an ...

There they floated. Scared. Traumatized. Six people had just survived the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into a bridge over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., in January 1982. They hung on to the ...

MATTOON - The son of Arland D. Williams Jr. died Wednesday from stomach cancer. Arland D. Williams III, nicknamed Trey, was 37 years old and resided in a suburb of Atlanta, Ga.His battle with stomach ...

MATTOON — The poster doesn't draw the eye any more than the other decorations in Les Edwards' office at Arland D. Williams Elementary School. "I am firm in my belief that a teacher lives on and on ...

MATTOON — Arland D. Williams Jr. Elementary School students have been learning to play leading roles there while also learning about the heroism of the school's namesake.