Lester Lee Williamson died Monday, December 3, 2018 of heart failure.  We, his family, are left wondering how a heart as big as his could fail him.

A life-long member of New Salem United Methodist Church, Lester attended other churches after it closed, where he loved to sing the hymns.  As a young man, Lester and his father, Paul, started Williamson Plumbing and Heating.  This became a generational business named Williamson Mechanical, and now Lester has passed his enjoyment of solving mechanical challenges on to his young great-grandson, Isaiah. Eventually, Williamson Mechanical did many large jobs, including Zenith, the (then) new Cox Hospital, floors at Mercy, various jobs at SMS and MSU, including Plaster Stadium and various municipal sewer systems. We liked to tease Les that prior to starting his first job as a young plumber's apprentice, he went to his new boss and asked for a week off to get married (true) and to borrow $200 for his honeymoon (not true-his bride had a bit of money saved).

Lester married Florene Wommack right out of high school. When Lester's mother, Ollie, asked him if he was sure he wanted to marry so young, he answered, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life." Les and Florene's love and laughter through the joys and sorrows of marriage have been a beautiful example to the rest of us. A year after their wedding, Les and Florene were blessed with Becky Lee, who married Ron Cooper and later, Gregory, deceased, and his sons Tim and Jordon. Becky and Ron had three children; Laura Lee, who married John Nickle and gifted Papa with Olivia Lee and Isaiah; Matthew Cooper, who married Kali; and Matthew's twin brother, Andrew, deceased. Also grieving include sister, Kathy Davenport; her daughters, Julie and Amy, and their families.

As we write this, we are smiling with our memories.  Many in the community affectionately remember Coach Papa and Coach Nana leading their sports teams onto championship trophies – or at least participation trophies.  Lester coached neighborhood teams for decades.  We looked for photos of Les smiling, and instead, we found him laughing in all of them. He was a practical jokester, from teasing his great-grandchildren with "Who's the Boss?" and agreeing with laughter when the kids said they were, to turning his back on Florene as he laughed whole-heartedly; but didn't want her to know she'd won that round of "Pull-your-Chain." Florene loved to talk about their fishing trips and remind Lester she'd caught the biggest one on that trip, whether it was fishing for peacock bass on the Amazon or fishing in the freezing rain at Lake Texoma last month. Lester's last adventure was watching grandson, Matthew, defend his chemistry dissertation. The next morning, as the two men sat together, Lester took great pleasure as Dr. Matthew explained his dissertation. The excited state design of carbazole-oxadiazole compounds for thermally activated delayed fluorescence was a delightful brunch discussion.

Family was everything to Lester and his favorite hobby was providing great times for his family, as evidenced by our many extended family vacations. On one memorable trip across England, Lester began quoting Shakespeare in a spontaneous contest against Florene (a middle school English teacher), Becky (an avid reader), and Laura (a high school English teacher who studied Shakespeare in England). Lester was still quoting Shakespeare hours later, leaving the literary women far behind. Lester enjoyed planning ways he could bring joy to those of us he loved. He chose to drive across town at least once a week at 7:00 A.M. to take great-granddaughter, Olivia, to school before he went to play cards at Twin Oaks. Another pleasure was taking Florene to the Ryder Cup in the U.K. and America, as well as The Masters, The Players, and other golf tournaments. Les and Florene's most frequent pleasure was sitting together each evening, looking at their brightly colored flowers and watching the birds, reviewing their day, their lifetime together, and their plans for the future. Lester's generous heart often found ways to bring joy to others without telling them, so we better not tell here.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, December 6, 2018 at Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, with burial to follow at Mount Comfort Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:30 – 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, December 5, also at the Funeral Home. If you wish, we invite you to donate to the Andy Cooper Memorial Fund/Media Department at Hillcrest High School, 3319 N. Grant, Springfield, MO, in lieu of flowers.