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Kelso Lee Williams Mar 19, 1923 - Jan 11, 2017
Posted by Jo Aguirre
Kelso Lee Williams, 93, passed peacefully from this life to be
with his Heavenly Father on January 11, 2017.
He was born
March
19, 1923, to James Robert and Dixie Opal Watson Williams on the
family farm in Washita County, just outside of Rocky, Oklahoma.
The day after graduating from high school at Rocky, Kelso
enrolled in a welding school in Cordell, completed two sessions,
then moved to California to work in the Kaiser Shipyards,
helping build one Liberty ship a day. He was drafted into the
U.S. Army, and served his country during WWII as a mechanic and
crane operator in numerous countries in the Pacific Theater.
Upon returning home to Oklahoma, he married Lillian Morris on
October 26, 1946 in Cordell, Oklahoma. He earned a degree in
soil science in 2 years and 7 months from Oklahoma Agricultural
& Mechanical College, graduating in 1951.
Upon graduation from college, Kelso accepted a job in Kansas as
a soil conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He assisted landowners in southwestern and northwestern Kansas
with erosion control and irrigation opportunities in their farm
plans, and helped survey and build some of the first floodwater
control projects (often known as SCS structures) in the United
States.
He was a faithful husband, father and grandfather. Kelso and
Lillian were blessed with two wonderful daughters, Becky and
Pam. In Kansas, Kelso volunteered as a member of the Lions Club
of Meade, and as a member of Rotary Club of Hill City, and was
active in the National Association of Watch and Clock
Collectors, member # 21784.
Upon retirement, Kelso and Lillian returned home to Cordell to
raise cattle, grow wheat, and farm the family land. That farming
operation still includes the quarter section of land he was born
on and which has now been in the family for one-hundred years.
Kelso was a life-long learner; he took auto body classes at the
local career tech center near Cordell and was still taking
computer lessons until last fall, and he was always planning
some new project. He and Lillian were members of the Hobart
Antique Tractor Club for many years. They loved to restore
vintage tractors to showroom quality, especially the red ones
(Farmalls), and then drive them in parades. Together, Kelso and
Lillian also enjoyed watch and clock collecting and repair. He
was an accomplished woodworker and loved using his wood and
metal lathes to turn and make personalized items for family and
friends. He loved photography and took and organized hundreds of
pictures during his lifetime.
Kelso and Lillian moved from Cordell to Edmond three years ago,
and were blessed to make so many new friends at Lyndale Edmond,
formerly Copper Lake Estates at 15
th and
Kelley, Edmond.
Kelso was a life-long member of the church of Christ and a
faithful servant of our Lord. He was baptized in 1951 by Eldred
Stevens in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was a member of Northside
church of Christ in Cordell, and later, the Edmond church of
Christ. He loved a cappela singing, and he loved to sing and to
lead singing. He understood what “shaped notes” were, and how to
use them.
He was an avid Oklahoma State University sports fan, and also
relished time spent on woodworking and fishing, and sharing
tractor-time with the grandchildren. He enjoyed major league
baseball over the years, especially teams like the Braves, the
Rangers and the Royals.
Kelso was preceded in death by his parents, one sister,
Gwendolyne Finley; four brothers-in-laws, Lonnie Morris, Doug
Morris, T.J. Finley and R. L. Alexander; and one nephew, Richard
Alexander.
He leaves to cherish his memory, Lillian his wife of seventy
years; two daughters, Becky Rogers and husband Cleon of Little
Rock, AR, and Pam Hammonds and husband Glen of Edmond, OK; six
grandchildren: Andrea Rogers of Manhattan, NY, Lauren Hammonds
of Oklahoma City, Alex Rogers of Fairfax, VA, Nick Rogers of
Baltimore, MD, Emily Rogers of Stillwater, OK, and Austin
Hammonds of Kansas City, MO; one great-granddaughter, Juniper
Rogers of Manhattan, NY; one sister, Glenna Mae Alexander of
Whitesboro, TX; one sister-in-law, Marilyn Morris of Elk City,
OK and of a host of others he was proud to call his family and
friends.
A formal visitation is scheduled for 3 to 4:30 p.m., Sunday,
January 15, 2017, at Matthews Funeral Home, Edmond, Oklahoma.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. January 16, 2017, at the
Edmond Church of Christ, Edmond, Oklahoma, with interment to
follow at 2:30 p.m. in Lawnview Cemetery, Cordell, Oklahoma.
Memorials may be made to: In Search of the Lord’s Way, P.O. Box
371, Edmond, OK, or the Cordell Public Library, Cordell,
Oklahoma.
Services are under the direction of the Matthews Funeral Home,
Edmond, Oklahoma.
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