i know it's been awhile, and maybe longer

This is sooo hard to say, I never expected this to happen this soon I never actually expected it to happen at all not my gramps.
not after loosing my sister Marsja to a 1 st time H overdose just 2 years ago, now I loose the man I have looked up to my whole life and always wanted to be like, I love my father more than anything but besides the connection me and my sister had me and Grampa James were both dyed in the wool GEARHEADS!!!!! Me and him could talk and wrench for hours (and while I was in SoCal helping him and grandma move to Keller Tx we did!) about cars and engines and all of his history, he understood my obsession, he had the same addiction I have. He never got to finish the Morton building he was doing for the projects, but at least you were happy and content.
I remember working on the old White tractor and Allice-chalmers back on the farm near Lombard IL with him, rain or shine I was always there to get whatever he needed and hold the flashlight, I helped put the iron duke on the allice, fixed the trucks even spreadin the manure on the fields. I love him, fuck im gonna miss him, he and I were the last of the mechanical williams’s carrying on the 8 generations of family pride in craftsmanship and good ole redneck make it work abilities. I have lost the greatest influence in my life from the time I was 5 years old on the farm.
I know he’s proud of me, ive heard it from him myself, I’m defiantly going to get that Mechanical engineering degree gramps! I’m gonna do it all every bit of it!
And now he’s gone along with my sis, thanks to a damn heart attack, after beating the prostate cancer.
RIP Marsja Casandra Williams, Give gramps a hug and kiss fer me, let him know I miss him already
RIP James Edward Williams, Just tell marsja what I wish I could’ve said to her on those roadtrips, give her a hug and kiss for me.

Larry Williams, James Williams II, James Williams I, and Marsja Williams




Your Loving Brother and Grandson,

James Edward Williams II

You know there will be a 3 rd and I can only hope that he will follow your and my footsteps, and carry on the Williams pride.

I miss you two, I will cherish the time we’ve been able to spend together, forever.

Not sure of what to say. My condolences my friend.

James,

Having experienced a similar relationship with my 2 sons, I know yours is a loss most people cannot begin to fathom.

As I see it, getting that degree is the highest tribute you can give him.

Hang in there.

Norm

thanks fella's it means alot, My gramps was the the one who told me i should persue the SI/SII Hybrid 3800 project to completion, he's basically a mechanical engineer just by virtue of all his years of experience and he recognized the benifits, not only that but he loved the 442, and he as well as most of us williams' are diehard mopar guys.

I tlooks as though i will be going down there to pickup grandma Jan as it looks like the cremation will be held down there but services will be held up here where he can be buried next to his mother and father (great grandpa) and his brother not too far from where i live. as he put it to me, when you die, thats it, the only thing you have is that you made the world a better place and that others can stand on your shoulders, that is how you become immortal, thats most of it in a nutshell....

i dont know but it looks like i will be taking possesion of all his tools and toolbox (exact same black and chrome snapon box i have, just more beatup) alot sooner than i ever expected and possibly his 390,000 mile 88 craravan (no one wants it, it's a van only a gearhead could love...esp with the oil and grease smells) i cant possibly let them sell his stuff, he has a set of original snapon tools when they first came out with swapable sockets...along with a anvil/vise that could clamp a 3800 just in it's jaws (it was bigger than me at age 7 or 8!) it was made in 1908. they just dont make tools like these anymore. i just cant believe it's this soon.
so now i have to somehow find time off work for at least the drive and services, then i have to get the 68 ready to grab about 10,000 pounds of tools and equipment and somehow fit it into my garage...but i dont know, that will have to wait, at least everything is inside where in SoCal everything was stored outside. put it thisway, out of the 9 trips to Tx about 1 trip was just his stuff, the rest my grandma's (tons of books and halmark ornaments!)
i am hoping that i can use the 18ftx8ft enclosed trailer to move his stuff up here, i dont think i can fit it all in the back of the F250, and untile i swap the 3.73's for 355's i'll be stuck at 10-11 mpg (dont matter loaded or empty) and thats a 1000 mile trip fer me...one way

**** now i have alot more things on my plate, i hope i can sell my sisters car soon, i dont have the room...nor the $

then there is the other option, he wanted me to move down there so we could work out of the Barn, 2 garages and the new shop just like old times, fixing up desoto's etc, i have considered this more than a few times, but i just dont want to have to deal with the books and crap and he didnt blame me on that one...
at least the weather is better than up here, but Al would kill me if i left him with the 442 by himself...but i would sooooooo love to have 12000 sq ft of garage space...I have no life other than my obsession so other than my mother and father and the 442 i dont have much holding me up here, but at the same time i would have to move a ton of sh!t down there myself...
I dont know, only time will tell what i decide on, i dont know if i want to rent a storage place up here that i can put my least used tools and equipment into but it's an option...
i have alot of stuff on my plate now and i have to figure something out, i just dont want to loose the tools and family craftsmanship/heritage that goes with them, some of them given to him by his grandpa...

thanks for the kind words, I am the last generation of the williams' to carry on with the trade, so i will have to at some point start rectifying that, when i find the right redneck gearhead chick, that is...there will alway's be williams' but not with our patriarical lineage.

Regards, James

My condolences James… I lost my Grandmother not too long ago who I was very close to and I know it isn't easy.

Sounds like your grandfather was a great guy, you can find comfort in all the good times you shared with him, those memories will never be lost.

getting an engineering degree can be pretty tough, hope you're good at math

James,

My deepest sympathy to you and your family. I'll use the cliche "I know how it feels" only because in this case its true. I just lost my grandfather in early June, and he was the same sort of inspiration to me as yours was to you. Reading your brief homile, all I could think about was the similarity of our situatuions. The best advice I can give you is to remember all the good memories you have, and be grateful that you were given the oppurtunities to create those memories. It hurts, but, at least in my opinion, its better to hurt than to have never had the realtionship. I am very thankful that I had the time that I had with my Grandfather, as I am sure you are grateful you had the time with yours.

Andrew

Very true.

Sorry to hear about this James, my condolences.

TOC Admin
Brando