Rudy was born at home on the farm on August 27, 1922, in Milam, Texas, to Vessie and Lily Williams. He was the youngest of four children. Rudy attended Geneva Grammar School in Geneva, Texas, and then he attended and graduated from Hemphill High School in 1940. He played and lettered in basketball, playing center. Before he left the farm, he made his spending money raising and selling tomatoes. At the age of fifteen, Rudy worked at a tomato shed in Hemphill. Rudy recalls that his family, living on the farm, did not have electricity or running water and no indoor plumbing until the early 1940s. (Electricity was brought to Sabine County in 1938 by the Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative.)
After Rudy graduated from high school, at the age of eighteen, he went to Beaumont, Texas. His sister, Carra Cates, encouraged him to attend Chenier’s Business School in Beaumont. Carra convinced her father that Rudy should not stay on the farm, but he should go to Beaumont. She took money, $35.00, which her father had given Rudy for a car, and she rented Rudy a room in Beaumont. Rudy came to Beaumont, attended Chenier’s, worked every day at the San Jacinto Drug Store as a short order cook, sold shoes at Rosenthal’s Department Store, and worked at Tyrell Hardware on the weekends doing odd jobs.
In 1941, Rudy’s first “real” job was with Atlantic-Gulf and Pacific Dredging Company. First, he worked as a payroll clerk for this company that dredged up and down the Intracostal Canal from Mobile Bay, Alabama, to New Orleans, Louisiana, and to Corpus Christi, Texas. He learned as many of the skills aboard this barge as he could, and by 1942, the company classified him as a Civil Engineer for their company. In 1944, Rudy was employed as an assistant purchasing agent for the Lummus Company at Port Neches, Texas. Then he went to work for the Defense Plant Corporation (part of the United States Government). This corporation coordinated materials to build chemical plant and refineries in the Port Neches, Port Arthur, and Beaumont areas. He worked for this company until 1945. In December 1944, he married Jean Hilliard, and they had three children: Susan, Reed, and Richard.
In 1945, Roy Maness and Rudy started Gulf Supply Company. From 1944-1970, Rudy and his family lived in Beaumont, where he was a charter and active member of Trinity United Methodist Church. In 1950, he served on the building committee for the church, and he helped to organize the fundraising committee for the television broadcasting system at Trinity United Methodist Church in Beaumont.
In 1951, Rudy became executive vice-president of Gulf Supply. In 1967, Rudy became President and CEO of that company, which became a nationally known industrial distributor of piping and related materials. Later in 1967, Rudy, John Duncan, and others bought Roy Maness’s interest in Gulf Supply, and Gulf Supply became Gulf Consolidated Services. Rudy became President and CEO of that company, also. In 1970, Rudy and his partners moved the company to Houston. His company bought/merged with several companies, and eventually, Gulf Consolidated Services operated twenty-one divisions throughout the world and employed 1,600 people. Also, in 1970, Rudy and Jean built a lake house at Livingston, Texas, which became their week-end place.
In 1977, Rudy and his partners sold Gulf Consolidated Services to the Mead Corporation. From 1977-1985, Rudy served as a consultant for the Mead Corporation. In 1985, Rudy started another company, Oil Company Specialties: he sold this company to John Mecom in 1988. Then Rudy retired. In 1988, Rudy and Jean bought a house in Beaumont, and they lived part time at the lake and part time in Beaumont. While living in Livingston, Rudy was very active in community affairs. He helped organize the fundraising drive to build a new church for Livingston’s First United Methodist Church. Rudy also served on the board and the building committee for the county hospital. In 1999, Jean and Rudy returned to Beaumont to live. Jean died in 2005, and Rudy married Helen Hatchell Freeman in 2006.
An avid sportsman and “farmer,” Rudy enjoyed fishing, hunting, golfing, working in his yard, managing his investments, and talking about his travels he made for his company. He especially enjoyed his visits to the Middle East: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. Rudy now loves watching basketball and golf games, and telling “tall tales.” His favorite saying is, “Life is good.” He loves his life, his family, his friends, and the opportunities he has had. Rudy loves to laugh and to talk. At heart, he is still a farmer.
Rudy is survived by his wife, Helen Freeman Williams; children, Susan Simmons and her husband, Dr. James Simmons, of Beaumont; Reed Williams and his wife, Martha, of Boulder, Colorado; and Dick Williams and his wife, Jane, of Conroe; grandchildren, Matt Simmons and his wife, Becki; Mike Simmons and his wife, Nickki; Jennifer Lehane and her husband, Danny; Scott Williams and his wife, Kelly; Drew Williams and his wife, Theresa; Elizabeth Creveling and her husband, Jack; and Emily Schlueter and her husband, Mike; great-grandchildren, Meg, Anna, Rachel, and Thomas Lehane; Madeline, Emma, and Wells Simmons; Lily and Reed Simmons; Abby Williams; Hudson, Landon, and Grayson Williams; Margaret Schlueter; and Henry and John Creveling; Helen’s children, David E. Bernsen and his wife, Dinah; John Freeman; Mary F. Kennedy and her husband, Scott; and Cyndi F. Boren and her husband, Charles; her grandchildren, Taylor McSpadden and her husband, Fuller; Cade Bernsen and his wife, Meredith; Jeff Kennedy and his wife, Sarah; Katelyn and Carly Kennedy; Chad Brett; Wilson and Paige Boren; and Haley and Nate Freeman; her great-grandchildren, Hatchell and Monroe McSpadden and Clara Channing Bernsen; and several nephews and nieces.
Rudy was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Pyron; sisters, Rachel Williams and Carra Cates; and his devoted wife of sixty years, Jean H. Williams.
The family gives special appreciation to Texas Home Health Hospice and Earth Angels’ caregivers; Elizabeth Taylor, Paulette Jonson, Loretta Douglas, and Wanda Jones for their considerate help.
A gathering of Mr. Williams’ family and friends will be from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 13, 2014, at Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont. His memorial service will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 14, 2014, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 3430 Harrison Avenue, Beaumont, with Dr. Robert C. Shield, officiating. A reception will follow in the Nita McKnight Parlor. His committal was held at Broussard’s Crematorium, Beaumont.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Trinity United Methodist Church, Capital Campaign, P. O. Box 5247, Beaumont, Texas 77726 or to a charity of one’s choice.
