Podiatrist uses lessons learned as a child to grow successful practice

Adapted from MaconTelegraph March 31, 2008
By Linda S. Morris
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Rondrick Williamson recalls his childhood as, "kind of rough."

His mother struggled to make ends meet and at times we had to go without, but modest beginnings didn't get in the way of his goal of having a successful career as a doctor.

His mother struggled alone to provide for her three boys.

He lived in public housing.

"We had things that we needed," Williamson said, "but a lot of the 'wants' we weren't able to have. ...I don't remember my dad even being in the home. But we had a really close-knit family, and I guess that's what brought us through."

Williamson, now 38, became a doctor of podiatry and owns Podiatric Medical Associates in Macon. He treats anything that relates to the foot or ankle.

Williamson understood at an early age that education was the ticket to his future. He studied hard and made good grades. He was fortunate to have a good role model.

Despite the hardships at the time, his mother, who had worked in factories in Mullins, S.C., moved to Columbia, S.C., because she wanted an opportunity to improve her situation. She then put herself through college and made a better life for her sons.

"That was very good for me to see her do that," Williamson said. "To see her struggle and still raise us."

"It really makes you appreciate the fruits of your labor once you have had an opportunity to go through something like that," he said. "You had to struggle a little bit as opposed to having something handed to you. ...Working hard for something makes the reward on the other end much, much sweeter. ...I can look back on it now and see it was just a process I had to go through."

Cynthia Linguard Gore, a friend since middle school, said none of their classmates are surprised when she tells them Williamson is now a doctor.

"No one is like, 'Are you serious?' " said Gore, an employee relations manager for Medicaid in South Carolina. "They knew he would be successful. He's always been very ambitious. He's always known what he wanted to do."

Williamson and Gore were best friends and were both voted for senior superlatives as: most likely to succeed, most studious, most dependable and most intellectual, she said.