Edith Walker Williams

Funeral services for Edith Walker Williams, 88, of Longview, will be 10 AM Monday in the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home, Longview, with Dr. Richard Hollingsworth officiating. Interment will follow in Alpine Cemetery. The family will greet friends at the funeral home on Sunday from 3 to 5 PM. Mrs. Williams went to be with her Lord Thursday afternoon at her residence. Edith was born March 25, 1919 in El Dorado, Arkansas to the late Johnny W. and Cleo Bama Walker. She was very creative and loved to crochet, dabble with painting and sew. But, her most appreciated skill was her ability to cook ? no recipes ? just a dab of this and a pinch of that, and the dish was fabulous. She was an excellent homemaker and a member of the Alpine Presbyterian Church. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt and friend. She was the wisest of women. Her best advice was to ?follow your heart?, ?pick your battles carefully? and ?learn from your mistakes and move forward?. Edith Mamaw moved to Longview with her family in the 1930?s, where she began attending Longview High School as a 9th grade student. The students were seated in alphabetical order, and as fate would have it, she found herself seated directly in front of the ?most handsome boy?. She said ?Hi, my name is Edith?, and that was the beginning of a beautiful love story between she and Lewis E. Williams, Sr. Papaw. At 18, Lewis proposed to Edith and went to the courthouse, where his uncle was clerk of court, to obtain a marriage license, but his uncle told him that he couldn?t give him the license until Lewis? mother Claire had given her signed consent. After obtaining his Mom?s consent, they were married. They moved into a small 2-bedroom home just a few hundred feet away from his birth home and they have been there since that time ? almost 70 years. Mrs. Williams is survived by her husband of 70 years: Lewis Williams, Sr. of Longview; son: Lewis Williams, Jr. and wife Dolores of Alba; grandson: Dean Williams and wife Cyndi of Hallsville; granddaughters: Becky Holman and husband Walter of Austin, Brenda Haigwood and husband Scottie of Waskom, Kim Jackson and husband Mark of Marshall and Kyla Burke and husband Brad of Marshall; daughter in law: Patsy Williams; great-grandchildren: Cole and Brittney Holman, Christin and Jonathan J.C. Haigwood, Jarrett and Kerrigan Jackson, Ava Taylor Burke and Jeremy, D.J. and Crystal Williams; nieces and nephews: Patricia Bowles, Virginia Boswell, Paula Rogers, Claire Koonce, Bill Williams, Jr. and Bobby Coffee. She was preceded in death by her eldest son Johnny Taylor Williams of Marshall. Pall bearers will be Walter Holman, Scottie Haigwood, Brad Burke, Mark Jackson, Patrick Bowles, Brad Bowles, Jeffrey Bowles, Denny Bowles, Larry Boswell, Tim and Ryan Rogers. The family request memorials to: Heartsway Hospice, 1300 Pine Tree Rd., Longview, TX, 75604; Texas Oncology, 1300 N. 4th St., Longview, TX, 75601 or Alpine Church Cemetery Fund, c/o Barry Henderson, 3100 Airline Rd., Longview, TX, 75605

Edith Walker Williams

March 27, 1919 - June 28, 2007