W. Williams remembered by community

By Courtney Warren

After the recent devastating storms, many were left with damage to their homes and power outages. However, for the small Canton community, the true damage was from the loss of beloved community member Wilbert Williams, who lost his life during the storms. 

Many have said William was a shining light through the Canton community as they shared memories of him. 

William’s uncle, Johnny Brown, said, “He was loved by the Canton community as a whole. He was a loving relative, and he loved his entire family. There was nothing he wouldn’t do, for not only his family, but for people in the community. He was the life of all family functions and always had a smile on his face. I can’t recall a time where I saw him sad or disgruntled. He always told us we could do it, even when we sometimes didn’t believe it ourselves.” 

Canton Alderman Les Penn shared the following story, “Wilbert was a family to a whole community. He had been at the Country Club of Canton (CCC) longer than people older than me can even remember – a big smile and a big long extended wave from that white truck or from one of the mowers. Like clockwork.

“During the 2014 Run For Sterl, I had been there before daylight to set up for the run, and Wilbert came out of the maintenance shed heading out to get started on greens; or so I thought. Well, he did all the greens, of course, but without me asking him to. He saw the starting line banner was down #1 fairway. He went and drug the dew from the whole area. And came up to me and said, ‘Now, no one will have wet feet when they start!’”

“Then, unknowingly, a few moments later on, here he comes, completely changed and jogging, just to support what we were doing. With a big ole smile. The same way I have a reminder of Mr. Webb every single day I see the CCC, I’ll never not see Wilbert on #10. He was taken too soon.”

A longtime employee of the Country Club of Canton, leaders at CCC said, “Words cannot express how much he was loved at the CCC. He dedicated his life to this place. He knew every inch of this place by heart, and, if you needed to know anything, he was the man to ask.”

“There is a hole in our collective hearts that will never be filled. Not a day went by that he didn’t have a smile on his face and a hearty wave to everyone he saw.”
A Go Fund Me has been set up for Williams’ family. For more information, visit https://gofund.me/49f8b2e4.