Robert Allen Williams Sr.
March 13, 1905 - August 16, 2003
Grandpa at Home
Grandpa & Elizabeth Berhanu
Grandpa & Grandma at church
Grandpa Williams was such a nice man. Always had a smile..was very funny AND...I never beat him at a game...He watched sports constantly and loved crossword puzzles. He lost his father at an early age, around 10, then he and his mother lived with his older sisters on their farms. He told me once about staying with his Grandfather in the sod house in Nebraska on the banks of a small stream. I had the pleasure of finding this place on a trip through the area. There were signs of where the soddy was still...His grandparents are both buried near there (Found their graves as well) They were all German farmers and he worked hard from any early age. He told me once that his childhood was not all that fun. He said the brother-in-laws worked him pretty hard. He said he did enjoy the occasional times when they would make ice cream on the farm. They hooked up the crank ice cream freezer to a flywheel of a tractor...when freezer stalled the tractor..it was done! A lot of his family were school teachers so after graduating from High School in Haigler, Nebraska, he went to school and got his Education Certificate then taught for a short time. AT that time in his life he smoked and drank a little and he told me he felt he was not moral enough to teach! He then became a Barber and cut hair in Kansas City, Kansas for many years and through the depression. He married Ruth Phanmiller who had 3 girls from a previous marriage. Then they had two children, Allyn Carol Goff, then Robert Allen Williams, Jr. A lot of people were moving to California in those days from the midwest and he moved his family to Baldwin Park, California where my grandmother owned a shop who made clothes for major department stores and he got a job working as a janitor for the local school district. He later because a bus driver at the same school and did that for many years until he retired. I remember many fun trips to Disneyland, SeaWorld, Marineland, etc as he would take me with him sometimes. When he retired, he and grandma moved out to 29 Palms, California and they enjoyed living in the desert for many year until Grandma's health changed and they moved down to Banning, California next to their daughter Allyn. After Grandma passed away, he moved up to College Place, WA where Allyn moved and passed away there at just a couple months short of 99 years old! ItHe was always very active, working in his yard and walked 5 miles a day till well into his mid 90's. He was one of those few people that were retired longer than he worked! He lived to a long happy life! If there is anyone I would have no question about being in Heaven...He is the man!