Dad (25) Mom (21) Robert 3 months in Traskwood, Arkansas where Dad was the school principal and taught the high school math courses. Mom taught first grade and was an excellent teacher of reading. In July Mom took me on a train trip to Vero Beach, Fla. where her parents had retired with her three younger sisters.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Dad (25) Mom (21) Robert 3 months in Traskwood, Arkansas where Dad was the school principal and taught the high school math courses. Mom taught first grade and was an excellent teacher of reading. In July Mom took me on a train trip to Vero Beach, Fla. where her parents had retired with her three younger sisters.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Robert with Williams Baptist College shirt
Robert wearing Williams Baptist College shirt. When it was Southern Baptist college they had a high school department in which I did my junior year of high school in class with WW Two vets twice my age in 1947. It was a good experience. I was in the Aviation Club when Bryant Denison was the president. We flew my uncle's Luscombe frequently after classes and I learned a lot from Bryant. He flew P-47 Thunderbolts in Pacific Combat and was shot down once so he joined the caterpillar club when he used his parachute, and then he spent one day on his raft before he was picked up by the US Navy.
Robert with Starduster 2
Robert with freshly painted Starduster 2 just rolled out of Special Products Aviation Conway, Ark.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Debbie Morin 1973
Debbie Morin in 1973 with nice grouper her family caught fishing the ocean from their boat which is right behind her She shot the rest of us in the picture that I put in awhile ago There just wasn't anyone here that day as it was late Sunday and our weekenders had all headed back to Dade Co. She was a very sweet lady Her husband Bob was killed by a car running off the road where he was running his crew that were working on a project for Southern Bell in 1986 He was only 42
Sawyer family 1971
Jim and Maxine Sawyer with son Mike in the front yard at Williams Cottages in 1971 I worked for Jim in 1959 when he was a partner in Electro-Standards Labs in Miami I repaired and calibrated electronic test instruments We had certification from the National Bureau of Standards We also manufactured an oven tester of our own design I built them from scratch for a contract with Sears We also did the test equipment for Otis and Miami Elevator
George Wesley 1972
George Wesley visiting Williams Cottages in 1972 He was and still is a very good friend who was one of the trio of Robert's brother Jim, and Jack Murphy in Hialeah, Fla from the 8th grade (1955) onward till Jim and Jack passed away George comes to visit me and my brother Carroll here in Ark. with his wife Eileen
Dan Post Steam Boat
Danny Post and his wife riding in the beautiful scale model steamship he built They owned Post Boat Repair on Little Torch Key He built this steamship model from plans It really was beautiful workmanship and he also built the steam engine from a kit that powered the boat It had a closed cycle for the water so that the only time he lost water was when blowing the whistle It was a model of a real ship
Marjorie with Pat and Lester
Marjorie with some nice Grouper caught by Pat and Lester Kruse and me on our boat This was the last time we took them fishing Pat had a 51 day stay in the hospital with a lot of surgery for cancer She passed away one month after Marge in Jan '78 Lester was the officer in charge of the guards at the State of Fla. prison on Big Pine Key
Christmas 1967 Marge and Bob
Marjorie and Robert preparing Christmas Party 1967 in Palm Springs Hialeah We had a great time and served our family and friends a spread made from rattlesnake They loved it, but feigned anger when told what it was It really is delicious and they had a good laugh later
Marjorie Feb. 1977
Marjorie in Feb. 1977 going out to celebrate turning 56 It would be her last Her sister Dora in the middle and Dora's neighbor Babe Fink in Dora's house in Miami I took them out to a club in Dania We saw a wonderful trumpet player named Pnina She had a great dance band and had worked with Bob Hope and other stars
Marjorie and small King fish 1971
Marjorie and nice King with our jetty that protected the basin in the background You can also see the fish cleaning table I built I mounted a pitcher pump with a hose and foot valve on it for the water supply and the waste went back to the food chain
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Marjorie and Button
Marjorie napping with my cat Her cat was Tiger who stayed in the woods all day He came home for supper every day We also had their mother, Mimi, and our Siamese Princess who we never let out We lived in this nice 10X50 trailer on the corner of our lot while we built our home on Big Pine Key '73 to '74
Hallas Family and Dolphin
Ernie and Marilyn Hallas with sons Mike at left, Allen in back and Charles between them at Williams Cottages
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Robert and Teresa 1993
Robert with Mrs. Allen Hallas on the WWII Navy field at Bainbridge, GA I was VP of the R/C Airplane club there and drove up every weekend from Tallahassee, FL to fly my airplanes I'm still building R/C airplanes I've been flying model airplanes since 1935 and building flying models since 1938
Ernie Hallas with his new "MAKO" 1972
Ernie with his new Mako Twenty with a 135 HP Evinrude at the dock at Williams Cottages on Little Torch Key Ernie was a great friend I first met in Wichita in March 1956 when I went to work at Boeing in the instrument shop he was my supervisor until he left to go to work at Eastern Air Lines in Jan '57 In Jan '58 I too moved back to Florida with my first wife Betty Jean and we were reacquainted with the Hallas family His three sons remain good friends today and they email often and send pictures of their families
Robert and Boatel main building
Summer 1970 our boat "MARGIE" at our dock at "WILLIAMS COTTAGES" the property was 425' from water to the street The cottages are behind the house Marjorie and I lived upstairs The room at the left end of the ground floor was the largest motel room in the Keys There were 4 double beds in there and in July when lobster season began we put in 4 cots so that a large group from Manatee Co. could stay for diving to catch lobster for 10 days 
Fred and barracuda 1974
Fred with nice 'cuda just small enough to eat Robert says it's the best fish for frying, but must be under 6 lbs to be safe to eat In the background is Robert's son-in-law Don Enberg with his three sons and Fred's son David This was our new home on Big Pine Key after we sold the boatel on Little Torch Key to Frank Parmer He named the place that had been Williams Cottages "PARMER'S PLACE" and the last time I was there it was still that in 1982 
Ernie and Marilyn with Robert
Ernie and Marilyn Hallas with Robert visiting on their boat We were out on the Gulf side from Big Pine Key where we anchored to let their three sons go snorkeling awhile I swam over from my boat to have a beer in the summer of 1969 Marjorie shot this picture from our boat They were our best friends They both passed away from too many cigarettes They died the same day in March 1989 Each was only 59 years old 
Carroll and nice grouper 1971
Carroll (Robert's brother) with grouper in 1971 at Williams Cottages on Little Torch
Key
Key
Fred and Lindy with big mahi mahi
Fred and Lindy Clifford at Williams Cottages on Little Torch Key with 38 lb Dolphin (mahi mahi) and nice little eating size 'cuda and 3 lb mahi mahi in 1971
Robert and big porgies
Robert with a few good meals from the reef just south of Big Pine Key in 1971
Fred and David with barracuda
Fred Clifford and son David in 1972 caught these barracuda in the bay near Big Pine Key 
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Shell at UCA
New Graduate "Alicia Mershell Prater" will be teaching in a high school in Texas and told Robert her students in her class room will be listening to classical music while cooking and sewing, Etc. She is a very strong minded person so I'm sure that will be the way it is. She will also begin her work for her Masters through Texas A&M soon.
Shell and Robert
Robert with Shell my wonderful friend She has been like a granddaughter and kept me supplied with food she cooked which was always great She is really an angel
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Shell Prater and John Horton engaged
Robert's great friends Alicia (Shell)Prater and John Horton in Dec. 2008 as they came to my apt to tell me of their engagement. He's a big-rig driver and owns some horses so they are buying a few acres where they can put a very nice home and keep the horses there too. Both their mothers are nurses and they reflect the good home-life they grew up in. Shell is the hardest working person I ever met. She put herself through UCA while working full-time at Kroger, part-time at Taco Bell and selling Avon products. They are also baptized Christians.
Alicia Prater newly graduated from the University Of Central Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences (Home Economics) She has accepted a position to teach in a high school in Texas, and will complete her work for her Master's at Texas A&M She has been a great friend to Robert for four years She is planning to marry John Horton in Sept. and has already invited Robert to visit her home on weekends especially for the Watermelon Festival at Hope, Ark.
Our first catch of lobster was very good These are just some of more than 20 We always caught enough to eat several times a month and still cover the cost of gas and the cans of sardines to bait the traps plus get back the $50.00 for the State permit I always had my boat licensed "Commercial" anyway as we also night-fished the reef near Looe Key and sold our catch to the fish dealer on Summerland Key
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Robert's Dad, Capt. H. P. Williams United States Navy, and brother John Duncan Williams with barracuda they caught trolling near Little Torch Key in June 1972 on Robert's boat. They drove from Texas to visit with me and Marjorie. John had not met my wife, but Dad had flown into NAS Boca Chica in the summer of '70 which was the first time he met Marjorie. They got along very well. John is sailing on his Morgan 51 foot Ketch with his wife Vera on their way around the world at the present time. They have reached Thailand after starting from Trinidad. Their adventures can be found by going to www.conwaypages.com. A web site administered by our brother Carroll in Conway, Ark.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Robert's once beautiful 1968 Ford Futura Station Wagon after being hit head-on by an old Dodge driven by an old fisherman who was sort-of impaired on a sunny morn on US 1 near Islamorada, Fla. in the Keys. I had a little internal bleeding from the seatbelt and one cracked rib from the steering wheel. My treatment during four days in the hospital was to eat a bland diet.
Maurine Williams holding Robert at 9 months at Traskwood, Ark. Mom and Dad were teachers at the school there. Mom had been teaching first grade for several years. She left teaching in Jan. 1931 for sixteen years as she produced two more sons. My brother Carroll was born at Benton, Ark. in June 1934 and our brother James was born at Melbourne, Fla. in Feb. 1941. Mom did work during WWTwo while we lived in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from March 1942 till July 1946. She returned to teaching in Sept. 1947 and retired in Hialeah, Fla. in 1969.
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