David Williams, 95, passed away September 18, 2013, after having lived a long life filled with love and hard work. “Dave” was born on June 1, 1918, in Mize, Georgia, in a log house built by his grandfather. He was the 7th of 10 children born to James and Isabella Loden Williams. The family moved several times but Dave spent most of his younger years growing up in Birmingham, Alabama.
As a young man, some of Dave’s jobs included a paper route, working as a construction foreman, as a linesman for the electric company, and in a bakery. He also had a route repairing and emptying slot machines and juke boxes. You name it, he did it…a jack of all trades. He was a very intelligent man who skipped grades in school and was once invited to join MENSA, but declined, being content with simply having been asked.
Dave served in World War II with a division of the Army’s 841st Engineer Aviation Battalion. Their division was responsible for clearing the lands and laying runways for U.S. troops. He served as radio operator and communications chief supervising radio, telephone, and telegraph communications systems, as well as repairing equipment. He said he knew what was going on before his commander did! His service took him to the South Pacific and places like New Guinea, the southern Philippines, Australia as well as other exotic areas. He contracted and survived Malaria while serving his country.
After leaving the service he found himself in Fernandina Beach where he met a pretty, petite redhead named Ida May, also known as “Seena”. It was love at first sight and they were married a few months later. After the birth of their first daughter they moved to Hialeah, Florida, where their second daughter was born. While there, he and a brother-in-law owned and ran a Gulf service station for 5 ½ years before returning to Nassau County. For many years he worked for his in-laws, the Zetterowers, at O’Neal General Store. After “retiring” from the store, Dave obtained his license to do air conditioning and refrigeration repair.
He flew planes as a hobby and owned two himself, after earning his pilot’s license from one of the original Blue Angels. He served as squadron leader of Fernandina Beach’s original Civil Air Patrol in the early 1950’s.
Dave was a member of Lifeline Ministries Church, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and was a Mason for 63 years, attaining the level of Master.
He was predeceased by his wife of 62 years, Ida May (Seena) Zetterower Williams in 2009 and by his youngest daughter, Kathy Diane (Raymond) Lewis, in l997. He was also predeceased by both his parents, five brothers, and 3 sisters.
He is survived by his eldest daughter, Becky (Johnny) Snead; one granddaughter, Amy (Pete) Evatt; 2 grandsons, Stacey (Gianinna) Cooper, and Joshua Lewis; one great-granddaughter, Aleina Diane Colon; and his youngest sister, Jolind Bowlin, of Clinton, Tennessee, as well as several nieces and nephews.
He spent his later years driving area roads and visiting with friends, being totally independent up until the last year of his life. Dave was a friend to all and never had a negative thing to say about anyone.
A viewing will be held Friday, September 20, from 6:00 - 8:00 P.M., in the chapel at Green Pine Funeral Home. Graveside funeral services will be held Saturday at 11:00 A.M. at Hughes Cemetery in Yulee where he will be laid to rest with his beloved wife, Seena, and daughter, Kathy.