To Warwick Fire Fighters Soccer Club Members
From: Doyle Byrd
It is with extreme sadness and sorrow that I inform you that Tom Williams passed away unexpectedly Sunday night, January 8th. Tom was well-known within the soccer community and will be deeply missed.
First and foremost, Tom was a righteous and good man. He was devoted to his wife Joyce and his two daughters, Casey and Callie. The depth of loss within this family is immeasurable. Our prayers, thoughts, and wishes go out to Tom’s family.
Tom loved the Warwick Fire Fighters Soccer Club. He served as president of the club for three years prior to my tenure. I still looked to Tom for advice on all issues so in essence he was still the de facto leader of the club. Tom was always the first to volunteer when needed. He gave his all to the club.
His love of the club was exceeded by his love of coaching. Tom has been coaching within the Fire Fighters Soccer Club for about 10 years. Most of this time was spent with the same age group of girls, who now are in the U14 division. Many of the girls grew up playing on Tom’s teams. There was a solid relationship between Coach Tom and his players.
Tom was a great coach. His teams trained hard, played hard, and had many accomplishments throughout the years. However, I think that his biggest accomplishment of all is the binding together of a group of girls into not only a team, but into a group of girls who have forged lifelong friendships.
Tom was a friend to many people. His loss cannot be stated in words. Tom will be missed by his Family, the soccer community, and the Warwick community as a whole.
"The day you have the stomach to cut a kid is the day you need to check yourself and quit coaching!" Tom Williams, WFFSC Annual General Meeting, October 17th, 2005
Submission For Reflection From Anonymous Source
Take a minute
Take a minute and think of all of your every day schedules. Think of the places and times you have to be each and every day of the week, weeks of the month, months of the year, and years of your life. Put faces, and smiles, sayings, rituals, and quirks of the people you are involved with in those daily endeavors and realize how much a part of your life and to what degree these people have been engrained into the fabric of who you are and who your family has become. When I do that Tom Williams is one those people that jumps into the forefront of my mind’s eye.
At night it was not uncommon for the phone to ring and it to be Tom going over an upcoming game and could not contain his excitement and had to call. The next morning my phone would ring and it would be Tom calling on his way to work still thinking about the girls and what warm up suits they should get, he wanted to make sure they looked good. Tom was on the WFFSC board and he always had an animated opinion and a twist of humor to finish it off. On game day Tom really shined. He could never contain his excitement and lived every victory and every loss as if it was his last. Unfortunately this weekend was his last, but for those of us left to carry on these daily rituals Tom has left us a legacy. A legacy of community, love of the game, but most important a love for each other and an extended family and friends that will be relationships forged and enjoyed for many lifetimes.
The only thing I ask is that all of us take a minute and realize who those people that are in the fabric of our everyday lives and thank those that are with us in spirit for the rest of our lives.
Thank you Joyce, Casey, and Callie. Thank you to all the girls who have played on our teams and thank you to all the parents who are in my everyday life.
Thank you Tom, you’ll be missed.
