Walter Waylon (Bud) Williams

Walter Waylon (Bud) Williams was born Nov. 12, 1933, to Jesse Nathaniel and Lola Fay ( Mat t he w s) Williams in Gause.

He passed away Thursday, March 24, 2022, in Cuero.

He was born in the community of Pin Oak, near Gause. His love for nostalgia was born there, in that simpler time and place. He often shared stories of adventures he and his friends and cousins had in the hollows and fields of that community.

He always insisted on driving through Pin Oak whenever visiting the area to show the family the one room schoolhouse where he attended school as a boy.

While still a young boy his father began working in the oil field as a driller and the family moved to West Texas. During their years in the oil field, they moved frequently with Bud attending a different school almost every year.

By age 14, he was working in the summers, as a roughneck with his father. The family moved back to Milam County, where he attended Milano High School and he played football, basketball and excelled in track, graduating there in 1951.

After graduation, he worked for a short while in the oil field, before enrolling in Blinn Jr. College in Brenham, serving as Freshman Class President.

After dating in high school, he married Velmalene Von Gonten of Rockdale on March 6, 1953.

Shortly after their wedding he was drafted into the Army, where he served in Virginia and was selected as “The Outstanding Soldier of the Second Army.”

In 1955, they were also expecting their first child. Bud, who was proud of his Texas heritage had no intention of his child being born outside the Lone Star state, he insisted his wife be taken back home to Rockdale, where Diana Lee was born.

After serving his country, he used his G.I. Bill to attend The University of Texas where he received his BBA and went on to law school graduating in 1960.

After graduation he moved the family to Houston, after securing a job with the Fulbright, Crooker, Freeman, Bates and Jaworski law firm. After a year he was then hired by Bates and Brock.

In 1963, their second child, Virginia was born.

Eventually he became a partner in his law firm, Brock, Williams and Boyd, and then later senior partner of Williams and Boyd.

In 1970 they had purchased a farm with a pecan bottom on the Guadalupe River in Concrete, south of Gonzales. They refurbished the farm and eventually built a new home and retired there in 1988.

Horticulture was his passion and he worked closely with the Texas A&M Extension Service, as well as the Texas Pecan Growers Association and also Federated Pecan Growers Association of the United States, becoming president of both organizations.

He was one of the first growers in the county to mechanically harvest their crops. He worked very closely with the Texas A&M extension service and county agents to promote raising pecans.

He was also past-president of Gonzales-DeWitt Landowners Association and was an avid collector of literature and books on agriculture, particularly old and rare books relating to orcharding and pecan production, having collected magazines from every Pecan Growers Association in the United States for many years.

His passion for growing things extended to his large backyard garden, which he planted every year with fruits and vegetables, as well as caring for an orchard of fruit trees. He delighted in taking people to the garden to pick things and giving boxes of produce to friends and neighbors.

His favorite times were when their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would come to visit and enjoy the farm with hunting, fishing and riding through the pecan bottom.

Bud was a man who cherished the good ol’ days and was a walking, talking recorder of times past and full of nostalgia. All who knew him have heard the stories and it was his hope, that through them, we would remember him.

Preceding him in death were his parents, sister Mary Sue Pratt and husband Odell Pratt, Frances Riley Jordan and husbands L.A. Riley and Arlie Jordan.

Surviving him are his wife of 69 years; daughters Diana Lee Weathersby of Concrete and Virginia Marie Leudo and husband Maurice of Mountain Home; grandsons David Weathersby of Concrete, Matthew Weathersby of New Braunfels and David Leudo of Houston; great-grandchildren Kylee, Cason and Cody Weathersby of New Braunfels; and nephews, nieces and cousins.

Visitation/viewing was from 12:30 to 2 p.m. March 26, followed by a service at 2 p.m. at Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home in Rockdale. Burial took place at Gause Cemetery in Gause, immediately following.

Pallbearers were Steve Capo, Thad Titone, John Scott Von Gonten, Robert Von Gonten, Stanley Von Gonten, Karl Von Rosenberg, Kurt Von Rosenberg and Drew Cartwright.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made in Walter Williams name to: Gause Cemetery Association, checks may be mailed to: P.O. Box 426, Gause, Texas 77857. Or pay online by going to www. paypal.com and search for Gause Cemetery Association.

Arrangements by Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home, P.O. Drawer 1417, Rockdale, TX 76567, 512-446-5454.