"Sorry to share that your former First Lady, Diane Williams has passed this AM. She has befriended all of my numismatic family and many of you have had wonderful experiences with her. She attended every C4 Convention at which I was president (2000-2010) and many since then. She could often be seen behind the C4 Table with Angie Ish, welcoming members, collecting dues and selling items. Her support enabled me to have hobby fun exponentially. Cherish the memory of the most kind, compassionate and patient woman in the world."

So sorry to hear this news. Our condolences to Ray and his family. She was born September 1, 1953 and died May 5, 2026.

When New Jersey coin dealer Harry Garrison passed, Diane submitted a remembrance. That's Ray on the right. -Editor

The time is 11:59:55 PM on December 31, 1999. The end of the century – the end of the second millennium! Where do I find myself on this momentous occasion? In Times Square watching the ball drop? Hardly! At a festive party, with family and friends, watching the ball drop on TV? Not exactly… I find myself in the not-quite-open-for-business, new location of Colonial Valley Coins, camera poised and ready to record a transaction between my husband, Ray Williams and the proprietor, Harry Garrison. A small transaction, Ray selling Harry a roll of Connecticut quarters, but a transaction none the less. The last of the millenium? Perhaps...

Seventeen seconds later, 12:00:12 AM on January 1, 2000, as the sound of the town fireworks echo through the windows and the TV in the next room faintly delivers the celebration in Times Square, my camera is flashing again. This time it's Harry selling Ray an R6 Connecticut Copper (M14.2-A.2 for all Ray's Colonial friends). The first transaction of the new millenium? It's hard to say.

I can't help but imagine that at 12:00:12 AM GMT in a little coin shop overlooking the Thames, that some British coin collector and his dealer friend are conducting similar business with the bright flashes of the London fireworks display lighting up the shop through the windows. Or maybe a couple of hours earlier, a tiny shop in the narrow streets of Bethlehem has two numismatists huddled over a counter conducting their business with an eye on the clock and making history.

But whether the actual last and first numismatic transactions of 1999 and 2000 in the world or not, I know this much –If nothing else, they were the last and first millennial transactions in Hamilton, NJ! And perhaps the way I spent New Year's Eve 1999 wasn't in the most festive or exciting or traditional manner, but it made two really nice guys smile from ear to ear, so I can't think of a better way to start the next millennium!