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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
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Howard Williams
HOWARD G. WILLIAMS
Cedar Rapids
Howard G. Williams, 83, of 1610 E Ave. NW, died Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015, at his home. At his request, there will be no service.
Howard was born in Olean, N.Y., to Margaret and Charles Green. He lived in Bradford, Pa., with his parents and siblings, Robert, Naida and Kathryn. Upon the death of his mother from tuber-culois, he, Robert and Naida went to live with his grandmother in Olean. His baby sister, Katherine, was adopted by another family member. After the death of their grandmother, they were moved to the tuberculois sanitarium in Olean. After their cure, Naida was adopted by a family member in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Howard and Robert were returned to a non-attentive father where they lived a life of young thievery, stealing milk bottle money and smoking cigarette butts off the street. Eventually, around age 9, Howard and Robert also moved to Cedar Rapids, joining their sister, Naida, and were adopted by David and Marie Williams. Another adopted child, Bill, also was part of the family.
Howard graduated from Roosevelt High School. Sometime thereafter he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Midland, Texas, doing plane repair. After his discharge, he returned to Cedar Rapids, where he met his future wife, Vera Kuether. They married, had three children, and eventually moved into the house he built for them on E Avenue NW. He worked for Link Belt Speeder/FMC until his retirement.
He was a member of Good Shepard Lutheran Church which he helped build. His wife died in 1993. Facing loneliness, he became a respite home for latch-key kids on their way home from Roosevelt Junior High. He became involved with a team from the Cedar Rapids Reds baseball team, grooming their field at Roosevelt, and following them in their trips to Des Moines and Kansas City. He also enjoyed the young Roosevelt football players, often bringing them candy bars after the games. When his macular degeneration got too bad, he haunted the aisles of the Johnson Avenue Hy-Vee store, where he joked with the employees and handed out pennies to small children. Many customers knew him as "the Penny Man."
Surviving family include his children, Lynn, Karen and Robert; and his sister, Naida.
His family wants to thank the latch-key kids, the Cedar Rapids Reds, the Roosevelt football coaches and players, the workers of Hy-Vee for befriending him, and all the little children who gave him such joy when they accepted his pennies. Over the years, you unknowingly became a second family to him and he loved you for it.
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