WILLIAMS, Kenneth Gerald 1915-2012
WILLIAMS, LAUCK, WENTWORTH, BAKER, GREER
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 9/21/2012 at 19:59:32
Kenneth Gerald Williams was born on April 5, 1915, on the family farm outside of Alden, Iowa, the son of Elman and Pearl (Lauck) Williams. He graduated from Alden High School.
Ken loved being raised on a farm and found great joy in the simple life of raising his own food and being his own boss. He even lived without electricity for the first 23 years of his life. Part of that time was during the Dust Bowl years and Great Depression. Ken knew the meaning of hard work and loved to tell the story of threshing oats with a steel wheeled tractor for a farmer neighbor who didn't want to risk working the horses in the extreme heat of 1938. Having to leave the farm was one of his most painful memories. Watching his father's farm equipment and animals being sold at public auction burned a sadness in his soul that brought tears to his eyes even late in his life.
He joined the Army during WWII, from 1942 to 1946, and traveled the country by train car. He was an instructor, teaching young recruits to use turret machine guns in fighter-bombers. Ken loved to talk with his family about his life and experiences, good and bad, in the military.
In 1953 he met and married Mildred Evelyn Wentworth. With the marriage, came two young sons who he always considered his own. Ken and Mildred had one child together, Debra Ann, born May 30, 1954. She has been married for 43 years to Mark Irl Baker of Waterloo, Iowa.
Ken went to work for John Deere in 1958 as a machinist and retired after 23 years of service.
He loved to garden and loved a quiet life, doing simple things like reading Popular Mechanic and National Geographic. He was a humble man, never calling attention to himself. His quiet way, sense of humor, and soft chuckle drew people to him.
Ken died on September 3, 2012, at the age of 97, at Bethany Manor in Story City, Iowa.
He is survived by a daughter, Debra (Mark) Baker, their five children and seven grandchildren; two step-sons, George (Joyce) Greer, their two children and six grandchildren, and Richard D. Greer, his five children, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He also had a fuzzy friend, Gizmo "Gizzy," who brought much joy, entertainment, and comfort to his life after his wife passed away.
[Overton Obituary]
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Burial: Garden Of Memories, Waterloo, Iowa
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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