Wayburn Williams

8/9/1930 - 11/24/2019

PEKIN ~ Wayburn Troy Williams, 89, of Pekin, passed away at 2:32 p.m. Sunday, November 24, 2019 at his home.

Born August 9, 1930 in Cuba, Kentucky to Ballard and Lela (Canter) Williams, he married Emma Sue Clapp on October 9, 1948 in Corinth, Mississippi. She survives.

Also surviving are two daughters, Carol (Robert) Samsel of Wright City, Missouri and Deloris (Dave) Martin of Delavan; ten grandchildren, Rick (Amy) Guile, Todd (Julie) Stauthammer, Shannon Green, Michael (Jessica) Calhoun, April (Marc) Vonderheide, Aaron (Amber Martin, Jason (Stephanie) Calhoun, Erica (Trent) Strunk, Anthony Samsel and Jessica Samsel; twenty-three great-grandchildren and three great great-grandchildren.

Preceding him in death are his parents; four brothers and two sisters.

He had been one of the founding members of Bethel Baptist Church in Pekin.

Wayburn had worked for Caterpillar, Inc. for 31 years, retiring in 1979 as an assembly line trouble shooter.

Wayburn enjoyed gardening, fishing and hunting, especially deer. He also loved working with wood and was very mechanically inclined and enjoyed working with his hands. He was always there to help someone that needed it, whether it be with a car, house or any other projects.

His funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 30, 2019 at Preston-Hanley Funeral Homes & Crematory in Pekin. The Rev. Steven M. Rowell, Sr. will officiate. Visitation will be from 5 until 7 p.m. Friday evening at the funeral home. Additional visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial will be at Glendale Memorial Gardens in Pekin.

Memorial contributions may be made to the family or to Bethel Baptist Church, 2720 Broadway Street, Pekin, IL 61554.

It's been a tough year for our family. Watching Dad go downhill as the Dementia stole more and more of him. Leaving him not only confused but physically weaker as well. We all knew the end was coming soon. He finally caught one of the nasty colds that haven been going around and it only took 4 days to take him away from us.
My heart has never hurt this bad.