Dickie was born on 17 October 1950 to Eldred and Mildred Williams in Miami, Florida. After graduating from Dan McCartney High School in Ft. Pierce, 1968, he joined the United States Marine Corps, through which he served his country faithfully until he was honorably discharged four years later. He had initially planned to reenlist, but in the spring of 1972 was set up on a blind date with a certain Tanyia Jane West. Two weeks later, he proposed to her; she laughed in his face.
They were married six weeks later, on 19 May 1972.
For the next four years, Dick served as a police officer in High Point, North Carolina, spending much of that time as an undercover narcotics officer. In 1976, he followed in the footsteps of his own father, a grocer, to work as a meat cutter. In 1978, Dick and Tanyia moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where they had two sons: Charles Benard, born in 1981, and Alex Michael, born in 1986. In the mid-nineties, Dick shifted from food service management to work as a manager at Home Depot, until his retirement in 2007.
Dick and Tanyia were married for over fifty years. He was a faithful husband and devoted father. He never missed a single band or chorus concert for his sons. He held the rare combination of being no-nonsense and the consummate practical joker. He loved giving family members nicknames, calling his wife, ’T’, his sons, ‘Charlie Tuna’ and ‘Alex Rooney’, and Tanyia’s sister, Cindi, ‘Moose’.
He served as youth pastor and elder at his church, and was considered by many to be a second father to them. He and Tanyia always kept their doors open, always ready to lend a willing ear. He had earned a BA from Guilford College and an MA from Jacksonville Theological Seminary; and though he had completed his ABD in Clinical Psychology, focusing on caring for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, instead of opening up his own practice, he preferred to spend his time working at Home Depot, hiring veterans and ex-convicts, and seeing to their rehabilitation and stability.
An avid dog lover, he spent his free time playing with his pups, shopping at his favorite store, Publix, working on home improvement projects, and spending time with his family.
Dick was predeceased by his parents, Eldred (d.1980) and Mildred (d.1996); his step-brother, Johnny (d.1996); and his brother, Chuck (d.2013). He is survived by his wife and two sons, along with his brother, Chuck’s widow, Oneda Williams; and his niece, Johnny’s daughter, Becky.
Services will be held on Saturday, June 3rd, at 10 a.m., at Living Faith Church - 6731 Ramona Blvd., Jacksonville, Florida, 32205.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests sending money to support Dick’s widow, Tanyia, to 2644 Burwood Street, Orange Park, Florida, 32065.
