MY LIFE
My name is Willis Charles Williams, son of Franklin Pierce Williams and Eva Elizabeth Smith. I have 4 siblings, Franklin Arthur, Louis Fredrick, Lillian Louise, Robert John and myself. Louis and Robert have passed away as of this writing.

Franklin was born in Virginia, Louis in New Jersey, Louise in Pennsylvania, and Robert and myself in Danville, Illinois. As you can tell, my family was travelers.

My father was hit and killed by a train in Danville, IL in 1935, when I was 3 years old. My mother was the oldest of several children and had to leave school at an early age to help at home. She had very little education and had a difficult time making a living for all of us children. Over time, each of us were taken and ended up being raised by relatives.

A cousin, Minnie and her husband Frank Melton took Frank. Louis went with another cousin, Eliza White and her husband Earl Valentine. Louise went with Emily Dunkley and I went with Emily Dunkley when I was 5 years old. Robert went with our Uncle Arthur for a time, then with Minnie and Frank Melton.

Emily Dunkley was a schoolteacher in Catlin, IL. where Louise and I started school.

I went to the 1st and 2nd grade there, then for whatever reason; I went to the Methodist Children's Home in Urbana, Ill for 2 years where I went to the 3rd and 4th grades. Louise also spent 2 years there. We both went back with Emily, me in the 5th grade and Louise for the 7th and 8th grade. During the summer between my 5th and 6th grade schooling, I also went to Minnie and Frank Melton. Later that summer, Louise came to live with Minnie, also. Frank had gone into the Army Air force during WWII and Minnie and Frank Melton raised Louise, Robert and myself until Louise and I both graduated high school. Robert never finished high school. Louise went into nurses training at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Danville, IL. and I went into the Navy the summer of my graduation, 1950.

I went into the Navy as a High School Aviation Recruit, completed boot training at the Great Lakes Naval Training center, then on to Memphis, Tennessee to the Naval Aviation Preparatory school. After that I started Aviation Ordnance school at Millington TN near Memphis, then we moved the school to Jacksonville, Florida. After graduation, I was assigned to Whidbey Island in Washington, then to Sand Point, Wa. to a Fasron unit. From there I was assigned to the U. S. S. Boxer, CVA21,

and on to Hawaii, then to Japan while in the Korean War. After the Boxer I was assigned to VX5, an experimental squadron stationed at Moffet Field, Ca., where I finished my tour of Navy duty.

I had met a lady named Lavina Rogers while stationed at Whidbey Island and on November 23, 1953; we were married in Anacortes, Washington. Our marriage lasted 7 years until 1960. We had 3 children, Paul Wilson, Maureen Elaine and Mary Susan. We were divorced in 1960. She remarried a Navy man and I ended up releasing the children for adoption.

After my discharge from the Navy in June 1954, I went to work for the City of Anacortes, Wa., then for the Anacortes school district as a night janitor while Attending Mt. Vernon Business College in Mt. Vernon, Wa. In 1955, I went to work for the Shell Oil Refinery, Anacortes, WA. I worked for them until 1960. After my divorce, and while working for the refinery, I worked part time as a roller skating floor guard for Don and Joy Baldwin in their rink in Burlington, WA.

In 1961, I moved to San Jose, Ca. While there I worked several different jobs, including the Elk’s club of San Jose at their bar, dining room and as a waiter. I continued to roller skate at the Skate Arena in San Jose. The people who owned that rink also owned another roller rink in Sunnyvale, Ca. I was asked to work for them as an assistant manager in 1963. I went to work for them. They built an ice rink next door to the roller rink in Sunnyvale and I became the assistant general manager for both rinks.

During this time I met and married Shirley Ann Stansfield, October 25, 1965.

        Our oldest son, David Wayne Williams was born March 10, 1970, shortly after we bought our first home in San Jose, Ca. I worked for them, Herb and Dorothy Hensien until 1971, when I left them and went to work for a new ice rink being built in Hayward, Ca. After that I transferred to the Eastridge Ice Rink in San Jose Ca. I worked for Eastridge for 5 years, then for Santa Clara roller rink for 6 months. I left there as the owner and I did not agree on some things. David Wayne Williams November 11, 2001

Steven Paul Williams
May 25, 2002		          During this time, my wife, Shirley began a Licensed Day Care business after our second son, Steven Paul Williams was born, November 13, 1975.
         I went to work for Ice Capades Chalet’s in Costa Mesa, Ca., learning their system in anticipation of managing a new Ice Capades Rink being built in Cupertino, Ca. It took so long for that rink to be built, I left Costa Mesa and looked for another line of work.
         I found work with Joe Nazzaro in Menlo Park, CA in his business, Western Skate Sales, Inc. in 1978. My main job there was assembling roller and ice skates, which I became very proficient at doing. I worked for that company until January 1988, when I was diagnosed with Cardio Myopathy and was placed on permanent disability. That story is covered under My Transplant Story, elsewhere on my web site.

We lived in San Jose, CA when the Loma Prieta earthquake shook up the whole neighborhood and decided to move to a different area. Our good friends were moving to a place in Northern CA and we decided to look there. We found a home in Red Bluff, CA. We lived in that home for 10 years.

By then both our boys had left home on their own and we decided to look for a smaller home. We found a vacant lot in Red Bluff. We decided to buy a manufactured home and have that placed on that property, which we accomplished in October 1999 and we still live there, as of this writing.

Shirley is still a licensed Day Care provider and I help as I can. I also have a hobby of wood working, making small projects for our home.