James Grant Williams Jr. passed away Saturday morning after a long struggle with Diabetes. He is survived by his seven children--Terry, Alicia, Chris, Tres, Stacy, Rachel, Peter--and six grandchildren--Kai, Leon, Ava, Ben, Andre and Grant.
Jim was born in Plainfield, NJ, on February 4, 1950. He was the eldest of three sons and very much reveled in that fact. His hare-brained schemes, dirty tricks, and down-right stupid stunts are now precious memories that his brothers will forever cherish. As a young boy James and his family traveled all over the world, living in places such as Israel and Jamaica. He would recall these places with such fondness—eating warm pita with a cold coke in a bottle; or discovering a pristine beach untouched by human feet.
After his first enlisted tour of duty in Vietnam, Jim graduated from the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana in 1972 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Two more tours of duty in Vietnam found him a Bronze-star decorated Naval Officer stationed in the Philippines. There he met his wife and started his family. Five children and five years later, Jim retired from the Navy, planted his roots in San Diego, and had two more children.
He dedicated his life to his role as a father, giving the same grammar and math lessons seven times. He sat through nine graduations and who-knows-how-many school assemblies. He was a steady fixture at Clay Elementary, Horace Mann Middle and Crawford High. With an incredible total of 22 years with those schools, there Jim made many lifelong friends.
Everyone knew Jim as gregarious, kind, humble, brilliant, and absolutely hysterical. His words of wisdom were a guiding light--and the joke that would invariably followed--kept us all from going mad. Jim always made it a point to make everyone he encountered feel like the most important person in the world.
He was our father. He was our friend. He will be missed. A memorial service will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Mission Valley on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 11am: 4195 Camino del Rio South, San Diego. His remains will be interned at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery at a later date.
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Our family sends out our deepest gratitude for all condolences. In lieu of flowers, as our father would have requested, buy yourself something nice or take a great vacation and enjoy time with your family.
Feel free to share any stories or fond memories you may have.
ReplyDeleteAlicia, Rachel and family -
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely beautiful tribute remembering an obviously beautiful man. I wish I could have met your dad...
All my love,
Amy (Jensen)
Dear Williams Family,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo of your dad!
Before Peter and Tyler were even in kindergarten they would play with toy dinosaurs in your family van...yours was the family I felt comfortable leaving Tyler with. The love and respect for each other was so apparent.
Jim would tell me that my father (who he met a a few times at Clay) was his hero because he too raised seven children.
When Jim and I were on the PTA at Clay we were at a meeting at another parents home and her refrigerator door fell off - twice, cracking her tile floor! Most people would have freaked out but Jim sat there calmly with a huge smile on his face - Many times after that he would say to me "Do you remember when Ruth's refrigerator door fell off?" and we would laugh about it all over again.
When Jim first went in to the hospital several years ago my husband didn't tell me but he went to visit him. Every time I spoke to Jim after that (and I mean for years) he would say "You know, Mr. Scott came to visit me in the hospital." He always told us how much he appreciated us. He truly would make us feel like the most important people in the world. I hope he knew how much we appreciated him.
He will be remembered and missed.
Hugs and Love,
Ann and the Guys