Joe Thomas Williams

Joe Thomas "Bo" Williams was born on December 17, 1927, in Columbia County, Arkansas, in the Hephzibah community near the town of Emerson. He died at his home at Brookdale North Austin Assisted Living in Austin, Texas, on September 16, 2025. He was the third son of Walter Marion and Eutoga Sanders Williams. He is survived by nieces and nephews, Paula Williams Brown of Columbia County, Arkansas, Eunice Leslie Stigall and her husband Zane of San Gabriel, Texas; Errol Ray Williams, Jr. of Austin, Texas; Cynthia Leslie DeHart and her husband James of Beaumont Texas; Reuben Leslie, Jr. and his wife Sue Downe of Austin, Texas; Rebecca Leslie of Dripping Springs, Texas; Frances Williams Huddleston of Morrilton, Arkansas; and Nancy Williams, widow of Solon Williams; of Wimberley, Texas. He also has a host of great and great-great nephews and nieces as well as many more kin and friends around the world.

He was preceded in death by his parents and by brothers Regnold Williams and Regnold's widows, Vesta Talley Williams and later Evia Talley Williams of Emerson, Arkansas; by Rev. Errol Williams of Conway, Arkansas, and his wife Willie Frances Byers Williams of Conway, Arkansas; by sisters Mary Vern (who died in infancy) and by Eudora Virginia Williams Leslie of Columbia County, Arkansas and Taylor, Texas, and her husband Rev. Reuben Leslie of Columbia County Arkansas; and these nephews and nieces: Dwight Williams, who died in infancy in Columbia County Arkansas; David Huddleston, husband of Frances Williams Huddleston of Morrilton, Arkansas; Solon Williams of Wimberley, Texas; Douglas Williams of Conway, Arkansas; Errol Williams Jr.'s wife Diane Simpson Williams of Driftwood, Texas; and Paula Williams Brown's husband, Rev. Jim Brown of Columbia County, Arkansas.

A world traveler who grew up before electric power reached his rural Arkansas birthplace and home, learned to wire homes for electricity safely as a teenager through his work at a radio station. engineer and seismic, navigation and aviation safety expert was known widely by correct name Joe. When asked for her suggestion for his name, his older sister Eudora said "Jimbo!," the name of a neighbors new pet dog. Both names stuck although his mother would sometimes call him Jimmy, and his nieces and nephews all called him Uncle Bo. Joe was a graduate of Walkerville High School who worked informally on electrifying homes and for pay as a radio station broadcast technician. In May 1950 he earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Monmouth College. When he was called to service in the U.S. Army at the was deployed to Korea. He was patriot, a supporter of fellow veterans, and an organizer and promoter the VFW. Professionally, he worked for defense contractors on navigation and radio communications. One job resulted in his earning a place as a civilian on the Thomas Edison nuclear submarine and appointment as honorary nuclear submariner by Admiral Rickover.

Services for Bo will be on September 27, 2025, at the Lewis Funeral Home, 420 North Jackson, Magnolia, Arkansas. Visitation will start at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Service at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow by procession to Hephzibah Cemetery in Emerson, Arkansas.