Dr. Williams, Jr.

Dr. David Willard Williams, Jr. died at sunrise on June 29, 2012. He was 79 years of age. Dave was born in Bryan/College Station on December 4, 1932, to David Willard Williams, Sr. and Magdalene Rees Williams. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Margaret Ann Williams Cardwell and Ruth Williams Lawrence, and by brothers-in-law Bruce Blackmore Lawrence and Charlie Nelms Barron, Sr. Growing up on the campus of Texas ATM, Dr. Williams was called Little Bill, after his dad, a much-loved professor, rancher, and administrator. He was a blue eyed adventurer, spending most of every day outside, shirtless and with free reign for escapades. As a boy he learned the whistles of two dozen birds, kibitzed on his mother Madge's bridge games, rode horses and played ball, and loved accepting dinner invitations from his friends' mothers. "He just enjoyed things so and was so happy and polite, they would say." After taking the bus to Bryan, he and his best friend Ide Trotter once watched Bud Abbot and Lou Costello in Hold that Ghost three times running. Bill and the other two of his three musketeers roamed the campus, even its underbellies; they had a keen knowledge of its steam tunnels and where each led. On the drill field, Bill would march for hours alongside the drum major for the Aggie Band, leading from the side lines with a stick. His sisters dubbed him "bathless Bill" in a song. He had no time for bathing. He and his dad, DW, would head to Fort Worth for the stock show, where DW judged the horseshow. Bill knew every rodeo clown by name. He began school at ATM Consolidated High School, playing all sports, and later transferred to Bryan High School, where he lettered in baseball and basketball. His coach called him "the most coachable kid he'd ever seen," Friends say he was a fine ball handler and the quintessential point guard. In the driveway as the dad of four girls, he would give the commentary of the final seconds of an Aggie/TU game as he dribbled up the court… "Five, four, three, two, he shoots…. … SCORE! Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Williams with the long shot from the corner wins it for the Ags!" Crowd goes crazy. Night after night. Attending ATM as an animal husbandry major, Bill became impressed by a trainer while playing as a walk-on member of the Aggie basketball team. In the spring semester of his junior year he switched to premed, graduating on time and as a distinguished student, a feat in which he took great pride. He was also a very active member of the Singing Cadets. He went on to graduate from University of Texas Medical School in Galveston. In 1956, he married Shirley Jean Warren, the joy of his life. After and internship in Cincinnati where his first daughter was born, and residencies in Monroe, Brownsfield, and Fort Worth, he began his family medical practice in 1960 in Waxahachie, where he was confused for a high school kid. He was shooting around with the local basketball team when Coach J.W. Williams walked in the gym and asked him where he moved in from. Thus began his venerable run as team physician for the Indians. He also served several terms as Chief of Staff at Baylor Medical Center in Waxahachie. Dr. David Cardwell, Dave's nephew, often shadowed him through a week day, and reports that a typical Dave Williams day might start with thirty to forty patient visits, including appointments, two sets of rounds, and the ones he would sneak in the back door after hours. Lunch was a bowl of chili at Darrel's. Shirley would bring his supper out to the clinic in a white bowl ("the marriage saver"), with a hot tray and a book to read until he could duck into his office. They would eat, and once he finished talking with the last patient, then he would squeeze in a few holes of golf (if the sky wasn't already black as Egypt), or watch a few minutes of basketball or baseball practice on his way home. Coming through the back door with his famous whistles, snaps, waving hands, and noises, he always threw his girls in the air and tickled all the meanness out of them. Next he would see who wanted to catch a flick or a Waxie game with him, or how many neighborhood kids he could pile into his car for a trip to the park, or who wanted to go see the places. He owns farms at Avalon and Boyce, and loved to walk the land. His daughter Polly tells how she loved it when he would perfectly make the sound of a calf, the soft call bringing her calves so we could count how many she'd birthed. After getting home again he would read until the wee hours unless he had emergency room duty, or in the early days a baby to deliver. Then he'd sleep a few hours and get up and do it all again. Thursdays were his day off. Those deserve a whole other writing piece. After 39 years at this pace, Dave retired from his clinical practice. He was pleased to be able to give more time to his grandchildren, and to church and community work, despite his more than 15 year battle with skin cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and several other complications. Some of his lifelong passions were travel and study with Shirley, his extended family, his work as a Sunday school teacher, church choir member and elder, golf, any Waxahachie Indian or Aggie sports event, basketball, bridge, reading, movies, the fine arts, ping pong, farming and ranching, attending medical meetings, sharing good food, and the Texas Rangers. He served as president of both the Waxahachie Foundation and the UT Parents Association, (think he loved his daughters?) and worked on several committees with Grace Presbytery and as a delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA. He was named Waxahachie's Outstanding Citizen and honored with an annual basketball tournament in his name. He is remembered for his overwhelmingly patient, compassionate, and expert care, and for the emphasis he placed on communication with each of the thousands of patients, families, and athletes he treated. Dr. Dave knew how to bench fear and allow inquiry, hope, and truth to be star players. He is also known for his eternally happy disposition and the overwhelming joy he felt in the activities and people he loved. He fit more sheer energy, work, and fun into each day than anyone known to man. After Shirley, his girls, and his faith in God's grace, the thing he was most proud of is having been coachable. The obit writer is sure of this because the day before his death, she sat on his bed and felt a very cold foot pressing against her seat when Ide spoke of that. We all are his legacy. Joy, joy, joy. Dave is survived by his wife of 56 years, Shirley; his daughters Ann Williams Burke and husband William Walker Burke, Jean Williams Bentz and husband William Dyar Bentz, Sr., the Reverend Polly Warren Williams, Margaret Williams Kennedy and husband Fred Chambers Kennedy; grandchildren Amanda Burke Bailey and husband Geoffrey Johnson Bailey, Mary Margaret Burke, Abigail Elizabeth Burke, William Dyar Bentz, Jr., Morgan Elizabeth Bentz, Margaret Ann Bentz, Mary Cameron Kennedy, and Patrick Warren Kennedy; sister-in-law Wanda Barron; and many beloved nieces and nephews and their families. A worship service in celebration of Dave's life will be held on Sunday, July 1 at 3:00 pm at Central Presbyterian Church in Waxahachie. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Central Presbyterian Church of Waxahachie, 402 N. College Street, Waxahachie Tx. 75165; or to the Dr. David Williams Scholarship of the Waxahachie Education Foundation, 411 N. Gibson St. Waxahachie, Tx. 75165. Arrangements are with Wayne Boze Funeral Home.

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