Benny Howard Williams of May, Texas, passed into the arms of Jesus on Sunday, July 21, 2024. The family will host a come and go Celebration of Life to honor Benny on Saturday, July 27th, from 1 to 3 pm, at May First Baptist Church.
Benny was born May 15,1945 in Vernon, Texas to David Bedford and Mary Alice Williams. He lived in Oklaunion in Wilbarger County, Texas, where the family milked cows and farmed “Dirt”. When Benny was 15, they packed up and moved to Fort Worth. Being dyslexic, school became increasingly difficult. Dropping out after the 8th grade, he started his working life at Double Seal Ring Company at 16. He then began to pursue a carrier in the masonry industry, working as an apprentice to Mr. Tatum learning the trade. Being a workaholic, Benny continued to pursue brick laying in the Brick Layers Union, then on to working for himself, as the Union would only let him lay 400 brick a day. He worked for himself laying brick from 1965 till 1987. As a side note, he once laid 3000 bricks in a single day! He always had a passion for farming and decided to pursue “Dairy Farming”. The dairy industry taught him many things, none included “farming”. Dairying was very difficult almost broke him as a “Man”. Leaving the dairy near Hico and moving to May, Texas, he decided to get up and go back to laying brick in 1998 at the age of 54. Continuing to lay brick he completed projects such as the Rising Star Post office, the Tolar Post office and the Water Valley Post office and every building on the May First Baptist Church campus. Many other homes, rock walls, and churches to mention.
Benny’s story would be incomplete and inaccurate without Dianne. They married on July 22, 1966, at Tarrant Road Baptist Church in Fort Worth, 58 years to the day at the time of this writing. They started each and every day at the breakfast table with a hot plate of whatever Dianne would prepare. Then through Benny’s desire to always “seek the Lord”. They sat down and read their bible. Dianne would read and Benny would listen. Over those years, they read through the entirety of the scriptures too many times to count, from cover to cover. In their years of marriage Benny had figured out how to build a house from the ground up and pay for it in 1 year. During his life he built 6 different homes for himself and his family. He always wanted to have a huge garden (for someone else to pick!). He once planted 10 acres of black-eyed peas, 3 acres of squash, 4 acres of watermelon and cantaloup and 5 acres of corn. There is some discussion on the exact amounts of those, but regardless, I am quite certain he did not harvest any of it, unless it could be done from the seat of a tractor! One of Benny’s biggest passions in life was his rusty, broke down, worn out equipment. He did not have to worry with anyone trying to steal it, because he was the only one who knew how to start it. Benny had bull dozers, tractors, bobcats, combines and one beast of a machine he loved to work on he called “Sampson”. He stuck Sampson in the mud once so bad it took a year to get it out once the mud finally dried up enough so it could be removed.
In an effort to paint an even canvas of “who” Benny was, it would be amiss to not mention some of his antics. One time he fashioned himself a corn cob pipe from scratch. He broke an old cigar, from when Laura was born, off in it and he proceeded to light it up and stand in the doorway to look “cool”. Immediately, his face changed from tan, to green, to white then back to green. The pipe did not stay, it had to go. Benny was always wanting to “build” something to have “fun”. For example, potato guns, to launch in the middle of Fort Worth, even out onto the interstate! He built homemade kites, always oversized and too big to fly. The whole time through the building process saying- “now we got to get this right, this is no fly-by-night operation”. Benny always took his family to church and it was not just part of who he was, it was his identity. Benny’s identity was in Christ! He would always talk to Dianne and say, “we just need to be sure this is what the Lord wants for us”.
Benny also had an undeniable passion for Africa. He flew on an airplane for the first time at the age of 50, in 1995! For his first ever flight, he went all the way! He decided to fly to AFRICA, over 20 hours in the air! Benny loved using his gifts to help in the “bush” of Africa, laying brick, building churches, schools and nursing clinics. Later, he began drilling water wells in Africa, realizing the need for water was greater than the need for a building. He made his last trip to Africa in 2017. Benny also made trips to Mexico, Belize and the Ukraine.
Benny was not an “educated” man by the world’s standards, but he “knew” more than many people would realize. He used the gifts God gave him to serve Him to the highest. No challenge presented before him was too much to do when it came to serving the Lord. He just said, “well, let’s go”. Matthew 28:19-20.
Benny in summary was a devout Christian from the age of 12, committed husband and father, Deacon since 1975 and a friend who would do anything for you. We will forever miss him and his whistle as he worked.
Benny is survived by his wife Dianne of 58 years, 3 children: Laura and husband Sambo Burt, Teresa and husband David Federwisch, David and wife Allison Williams; 1 sister, Sarah Weis; 5 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by: his parents, David and Mary Williams; his siblings: Freda, John, Joe, Veda and Bern. Note: when Bern passed away, Benny said, “That sorry sucker- he Beat me there!
Online condolences, memories and tributes can be made to the family at www.heartlandfuneralhome.net