Vernon James Williams was born on September 16, 1932, in Piedmont, Missouri and left this earth on June 13, 2021, in Visalia, California. In between those two days he lived a full life and served his family well.
While Vernon was growing up, the Williams family traveled between Piedmont and the Phoenix and Coolidge, Arizona areas a couple of times. Their last residence in Missouri was a farm in the Rings Creek area where Vernon learned to ride a horse, farm, and hunt back in the woods near their farm. It was probably during that time that he developed a strong sense of family loyalty as he balanced doing chores with school when his father and older brother and sister went to work up in St. Louis.
In 1947 the Williams family gave up on farming and made their way from Piedmont, Missouri by way of Arizona to Lindcove, California where they stayed with his mother’s brother, Jim, before eventually settling in Woodlake a couple of years later. Vernon chose to enter the workforce rather than finish school and bounced around in several jobs including working for the Division of Forestry one summer. He also met his future wife, Imogene Dodson, during that time.
In 1951 Vernon enlisted in the US Navy where he served abord the USS Salisbury Sound as well as spent some time in the Marshall Islands aboard a service craft and at the naval base on Oahu, where he and Imogene made their first home.
Vernon and Imogene cruised home together aboard a Naval ship and made their first stateside home in Tulare but moved back to Woodlake down the street from his mother and younger siblings after the loss of his father. Eventually Vernon and Imogene purchased 10 acres outside of Exeter, where they planted walnuts and added farming as a side job to help with putting their three children through college.
From operating a spray rig to welding tanks to driving a cement truck or a tractor trailer rig for hauling roofing materials, Vernon was a man of many talents. He employed many of them as useful tools that served his family in completing projects around “the place” (as he referred to their small farm) or in restoring old vehicles. One was a 1941 coupe that was completely in pieces when he purchased it. He essentially treated it as a life-sized model and put it together.
“Family first” was Vernon’s motto and he considered devotion to his family as his most important job throughout his lifetime. He lived it as a youngster back in Missouri helping his mother take care of the farm and his younger siblings. He continued it as a young man who would include his sisters and brothers in his spare time activities. He stepped up by moving his own young family back to Woodlake to help his mother and younger siblings after the death of his father. Over and over throughout his lifetime he continued to love his family through his actions. He will be greatly missed.
Vernon was preceded in death by his parents, Charles Clay Williams and Mabel Ava (Noble) Williams, his loving wife, Imogene (Dodson) Williams, his siblings Esther Henson, Lester Williams, and John Williams, and grandson Robert Vernon Craine. He is survived by his children Jeannie Craine (Bob) of Visalia, Bob Williams (Shari) of Pismo Beach, Pam Bookout of Bakersfield, and grandchildren, Danielle Figueroa (Steve), McKenzie Williams, Katelin Williams, Nathaniel Bookout, and Elizabeth Bookout. He is also survived by his siblings Bonnie Hensley (E.G.), and Rosemary Reynolds (Rich) and numerous nieces and nephews who were dear to him.
A graveside service will be held at 9:00 A.M. on July 2, 2021, at the Visalia Public Cemetery. Arrangements are by the Miller Memorial Chapel in Visalia.
