Marshall Williams K5QE / sk obituary
Bill Fisher
Marshall Parker Williams was 82 years old when he passed away at his home in Hemphill, Texas on Friday, July 26, 2024. He was born on January 15th, 1942, in Houston, Texas to Janis and Claude Williams, who both preceded him in death.
Marshall was a man who valued and craved knowledge. In 1963, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Houston’s prestigious Rice University where he met his first wife Sharon Marie Sammis, who also preceded him in death. Sharon and Marshall were married August 31, 1963. After a tour in the Army, he attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas where he earned both his master's degree and finally his doctorate degree in mathematics in 1972. It was during this time that he and Sharon Marie had their son Randall Lee Williams.
Marshall’s career was multifaceted. His first teaching job was at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Computers soon claimed his interest, and the family relocated to Oklahoma City where he designed programs for Liebmann Ice Company and TG&Y. It was in Oklahoma City where Sharon Marie died from Leukemia, yet he was again blessed and met his last wife Jimmie Louise Honeycutt, and they were married in 1981. Afterwards he and his family moved back to Texas where he worked throughout the 80’s and early 90’s as a professor at San Jacinto College in Pasadena. In addition to teaching, Marshall also worked as an independent programmer during that time. He broadened his computer skills by earning engineering certificates and became an authorized Novell reseller, from which he built his own computer business: Alpha Networks. After passing that business to his son Randall, he moved to Hemphill, Texas in 1996 and started Sabine Internet which provided Internet service to the Sabine County area until his retirement in 2003.
Like his father before him, Marshall enjoyed hunting, target practice and fishing. He was also fond of flying airplanes and bowling, a sport he shared with his wife Jimmie Louise.
It was in Oklahoma City that Marshall was introduced to amateur (or ham) radio, a hobby for which he became deeply passionate. Over the decades, he devoted himself to building his radio stations and using them to communicate with other ham radio operators all over the globe. His achievements in ham radio are hard to overstate. He achieved his goal of communicating with another operator in every US state, and then he repeated this feat over and overusing different, more difficult radio frequencies. This passion culminated with him building a world class ham radio contest station in Hemphill, where he and his friends consistently placed top scores in both global and worldwide radio contests. Marshall’s passion for ham radio was complemented by his desire to teach, and he enjoyed mentoring many other ham radio operators throughout the years.
Marshall is survived by his wife Jimmie Louise Williams of Hemphill, his son Randall and wife Tuba Williams of Pearland, his two grandchildren Victoria and Tiffany Williams, and sisters Claudia Hayslip of Houston and Christine Barr and husband Dick of Plainfield, Illinois. He will be sorely missed.
Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 6, 2024, in Starr Funeral Home Chapel, 510 Starr Street, Hemphill, Texas.
Memories and condolences may be shared at starrfuneralhome.com.