Robert "Bob" Williams

 

Robert (Bob) Lowery Williams was born on November 11, 1938.  He is the son of Elias Leon Williams and Jewel A. Williams.  He grew up in Wesson, Mississippi. He grew up in a multi-generational family.  His grandfather was also Robert.  So they called his grandfather Pa Bob and he was called Bob Boy.  He spent his childhood growing up on a dairy farm, but he knew he wanted something more than being a farmer.  He attended Co-Lin Junior College and then graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1959.  While attending college, he met the love of his life, Florence C. Werby.  They married in 1959 and remained married until she passed in 2021.  They moved to Gulfport where they started a family. They had five beautiful children.

 

Bob began his career as a junior high school teacher, in the Gulfport School system.  He then switched careers to work at Keesler Air Force Base as an electronics instructor.  He worked there for many years before going to work for NORDA.  This work involved going on deep sea missions to test equipment for NASA.  He retired in 1998 and he and Flo began traveling around the world.  They made several trips to Europe, Greece, Egypt, Canada and Central America.  They loved traveling in their motorhome and visited most of the states.  He and Flo also became involved in working at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center Wings division.  He built a lot of sets for many of the plays and even took a turn at acting playing Santa Claus and one of the grandparents in Willy Wonka.   He loved working in the yard and growing plants.  It was not unusual for him to stop along the side of the road and grab a clipping of an interesting plant and then try to grow it.  He was also very handy around the house.  There was not a single electrical problem he could not fix and he loved tinkering with different tools and figuring out how things worked.  

 

He is preceded in death by his wife, Florence C. Williams, his sons, Robert L. Williams, Jr. and Joseph M. Williams.  He is survived by his daughters, all three his favorite, Katherine M. Holthouser (Gene), J. Lynn Weinberger (Ron), and R. Michelle Stewart (Beau).  He also has four grandchildren, Rachel M. Maurer (Greg), Melissa Faust (Andrew), Royce Weinberger and Coleton M. Casano (George Cooper) and three great-grandchildren, Gregory, Annabelle and Benjamin Maurer.   There will be no service at his request and he will be interred with his wife. You can celebrate Bob's life by donating to a charity of your choice.