At 99, Oliver "Olly" Perry Williams sits in his West Mt. Airy home, his fingers nimbly working strips of wool into vibrant rugs. These aren't just any rugs. They're tapestries of history, each thread a story from a life that has spanned nearly a century of American transformation.

From barefoot farm boy in Depression-era Missouri to distinguished University of Pennsylvania professor, Williams has lived many lives in one. Now, as he approaches his 100th birthday on March 14 next year, he's reinvented himself once again as an artisan, turning discarded wool clothing and silk ties into works of art through his business, Olly's Rugs.

"I sell them on the internet and at MAAG," Williams says of his creations, each a labor of love that yields more in satisfaction than in profit. But for a man who once ran 4 miles a day well into his 80s, the value isn't in the monetary reward – it's in the doing.

Williams' journey to this cozy corner of Philadelphia, where he's lived for the past 32 years, began in the hardscrabble days of the 1930s. "I was barefoot, and our house had no electricity with a mud road out front. I went to a one-room schoolhouse starting in 1930," he recalls, his voice carrying no hint of hardship, only fond remembrance.

But Williams' story begins even earlier – with a surprising link to one of America's defining moments. "Believe it or not, I have a personal connection to the Civil War," he says. "My grandmother was a child during the Civil War and I can remember her telling me war stories. She said they hid men in a hollow log and others in a false ceiling so the Missouri border outlaw raiders would not find them."

Williams' early years were marked by the hardships of the Great Depression. "They were very hard times for my parents, but as a kid, you don't experience those things the way adults do," he reflects. "Crops failed, and we could not afford a tractor, so we went back to mules. But I look back fondly on those times, as hard as they were."

His father, a farmer with ministerial aspirations, had briefly attended Yale University Divinity School in the 1920s. After a short-lived stint at a church in Covington, Ohio, where he was considered "too liberal," the family was forced to move to Missouri, to Williams' grandfather's farm.

From this beginning, Williams embarked upon an academic career that would take him from the University of Chicago, where he earned his doctorate, to the University of Pennsylvania. For 35 years, he shaped young minds as a professor of political science, once spending a summer at Harvard University.

In his 50s, Williams quit smoking and embraced a healthier lifestyle, taking up jogging. "When we would travel to European cities, I'd start running at 6 a.m., which was a fun time to see those cities," he recalls. His running career culminated at age 81 when he won first place in the 80-89 age category in the annual Broad Street Run.

Retirement at 70 didn't slow Williams down. It merely opened new chapters. He penned a book on Pennsylvania's courthouses, became an antique "picker," and volunteered at Morris Arboretum.

"I had nobody to talk to except my wife," he says, "so I organized a monthly luncheon with five other ex-professors. The luncheon continues with many replacements. Now there are seven."

For three years, Williams researched and wrote "County Courthouses of Pennsylvania," visiting all 67 counties in the state twice. "Before the building of the Interstate highways," he explains, "you could drive through every Main Street and see every courthouse, and I wondered who built these things."

At 75, Williams started a new venture called Olly's Folly, collecting and selling "found" objects, primitive furniture, and tools at rural auctions and flea markets. For 15 years, he'd attend one or two auctions every week as a "picker," and then hold periodic sales outside his Mt. Airy house.

Now, as he crafts rugs in a sewing room that looks something like a Goodwill, Williams continues to weave together the threads of his remarkable life. And it's a skill with family roots. "My mother had saved wool clothing and crocheted them into rugs," he says. Now, Williams collects discarded woolen clothing, takes them apart, washes and dries them, cuts them into strips, and crochets them into beautiful, intricate throw rugs. He also repurposes silk neckties into rugs.

Williams is an active member of the Northwest Village Network (NVN). Barbara Adolphe, director of NVN, shares, "NVN was mentioned in a newspaper article Olly read, so he showed up at one of our Saturday socials by himself. His wife Mary Ann joined him later. The two of them now come almost every Saturday." Mary Ann, a former journalist, worked for newspapers in Massachusetts, Florida, and Illinois.

Williams has two daughters, both retired and living in Chicago. Ruth holds an MBA from the Wharton School, while Jessica, a linguist, conducts walking architecture tours as a docent.

Williams is glad to donate rugs for a good cause and fundraisers and would welcome receiving anyone's discarded wool clothing and silk ties. Contact him at 215-219-4363.

For more information, email olly_maryann@verizon.net. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.