Jack Vandervoort Williams

He was born on September 15, 1913, in Carrizo Springs, Texas and was one of five children of Robert Wright Williams and Eva Dee Vandervoort Williams. After he graduated from high school, Jack began his career as a cowboy earning a dollar a day in 1931 and 1932. After spending a month of his pay in a single appointment at the dentist, Jack decided to go to college. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1937, where he was in B Infantry in the Corps of Cadets.

While at A&M, he became friends with Dean Kyle and took him deer hunting on his family ranch in South Texas. After completing college, Jack first managed the 180,000 acre Atotanilco Ranch in Mexico. He moved to Paint Rock, Texas in Concho County, to work for the extension service and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration program, helping arrange loans for farms, where he met and married Teddye Wardlaw from Ballinger, Texas. Jack volunteered for military service in 1939, to train as a pilot for an Army Air Corps program for delivery of fighter planes overseas to the war zone.

After receiving his honorable discharge in 1944, Jack leased a ranch in Concho County and purchased his first herd of registered Hereford cattle. He would eventually operate three ranches there, running both registered Herefords and commercial stock. Jack was one of the first ranchers to use progeny testing to improve his herd. By the 1970s, he had become a highly respected Hereford breeder, known for his top herd bulls, including Sam Donald, a nationally and internationally known bull, who was regarded as one of the best bulls in the world at that time, with his semen shipped to South America, Europe, and South Africa.

Jack grew up in a ranching family. Jack’s grandfather, Leroy Pope Williams, ranched in South Texas when the Civil War began. Jack’s father, Robert Wright Williams, was required to take over the ranch at age 15 upon the death of his father. Robert Williams ranched in both Texas and Mexico, running as many as 5,000 head of cattle. Jack always enjoyed telling the story about when his father, Robert Williams, went searching into Mexico for some horses which had been stolen, and found they had been taken by Pancho Villa’s band. When Pancho Villa’s men recognized Mr. Williams, who had just won the Steer Roping competition in Piedras Negras, they released the horses. On his mother’s side of the family, Jack’s maternal grandfather, Freegift Vandervoort, was the first County Attorney for Dimmit County and its second judge. He was sometimes referred to as the “Father of Dimmit County”. Freegift Vandervoort also published the Carrizo Springs Javelin newspaper.

Jack Williams was a member, and served as an officer and director of many ranching organizations, including the Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Hereford Association, American Hereford Association, Concho County Hereford Association, and the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association. He also served as a deacon and elder of the First Presbyterian Churches in Ballinger and San Angelo, Texas, was a member of Rotary, and was one of the original directors of Southwest Bank of San Angelo, which later became San Angelo National Bank, before being acquired by First Financial Bancshares.

Jack met his future wife, Teddye Wardlaw, on a blind date and on that first date, he informed Teddye, matter of factly, that he wasn't going to get married until he was 30 (he was 25 at the time), at which point she retorted, “Well, who would want ya?” They were married six months later, a marriage that lasted just short of 70 years. He and Teddye lived in Paint Rock, Ballinger, and San Angelo, and also spent many years traveling to their beloved Red River, New Mexico, where they made many life long friendships.

Jack Williams was one of a kind. He was a true gentleman and a stubborn man of principle. He was generous to a fault, loyal, with a sweet ever-present smile and quick wit, a fearless risk taker with a “can-do” attitude, barreling up mountain switchback trails in a jeep to the horror of his passengers, cutting down a large tree at age 94 because he didn’t want to pay to have it cut down, and once driving himself on back roads to avoid traffic to go to the hospital because he was having a heart attack. The mold was truly broken when Jack Williams came into the world. He was a devoted husband, a wonderful father, and an adoring “granddad”. He left a lasting legacy to his family, his friends, and to the ranching world. He will be missed.

Jack is survived by his daughter, Vicky Williams Harrison, and her husband, Josh, of College Station and The Woodlands, along with his two grandsons, Joshua Wardlaw Harrison (A&M Class of 2001) of Houston and David Williams Harrison of Fort Worth, and many nieces and nephews. Jack is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Stella Elizabeth (Teddye) Williams, who died on November 4, 2008, He is also preceded in death by brothers Robert Williams, Jr., Ernest Williams (A&M Class of 1933), Leroy Williams, and a sister, Elizabeth Williams Saunders.

A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, February 20, at 10:30, at Grace Bible Church at 700 Anderson Street in College Station, Texas. If desired, memorials can be made in Jack’s memory to Grace Bible Church, the Memorial Student Center of Texas A&M, or a charity of your choice.