Daily Sitka Sentinel
Randall Kurt Williams
Randall Kurt Williams
Services for Randall Kurt Williams, a lifelong Sitkan, will be 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the United Pentecostal Church, 101 Cascade Creek Road.
A potluck luncheon will follow.
Randy died Dec. 3 at his home. He was 58.
He was born Jan. 15, 1958, in Sitka, the son of Janette (Wright) and Victor Innocent Williams. He attended Sitka schools, and went to work for Alaska Lumber & Pulp in 1975. When it closed in 1993, he worked for the City of Sitka, the U.S. Forest Service and Sitka Producers Co-op.
He married Lana James of Angoon on Sept. 28, 1979, at Angoon Assembly of God Church.
In Sitka, he is enjoying attending the United Pentecostal Church, where he was baptized.
While Randy was with Sitka Trail Works, he took on building the steps on many trails, including the Mosquito Cove Trail, Gavan Trail, Thimbleberry and the Verstovia trail.
“He would think about it, and measure and plan ... he wanted it perfect,” a family member said.
He also worked with U.S. Forest Service cabin and trail crews, and got to build more trails.
He enjoyed hunting and fishing, but boxing was his great love.
From the time he was young he was interested in it, and collected and read Ring Magazine and other boxing news. His dad was a boxer, with the nickname “Tiger” Williams, and so was his grandad, Daniel Wright, but Randy taught himself how to box from his reading, and he figured out his own training and exercises. Through locals Bob Colliver, a boxing program was established in Sitka, and in May 1981 Randy got a trip to Anchorage. He had three back-to-back bouts there, and scored knockouts within minutes in all three. That’s when he was given the name “Ice Man” Williams.
He had other successful matches during the 1980s, and always followed boxing closely. His favorite boxer was Mohamad Ali, and he loved to quote his “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”
When Randy got a new cell phone he asked his wife to help him put a photo on his wallpaper. When she opened up his photos she saw three of Ali. “What?” she said. “All you have are Ali pictures!” He answered, “I know. Isn’t it cool.”
“Randy was an awesome boxer,” a family member said. “But his biggest fight was with the pain he lived with daily. Not many people knew about his suffering.”
Randy was preceded in death by his first granddaughter, Paulette James; his father, Victor Williams; his grandparents Martha and Daniel Wright; his uncle and auntie Russell and Gwen Wright; and good friends Tom Farquhar, Tom Widmark, Wendy Richardson, Geraldine Kinville and Karen Tally.
He is survived by his wife, Lana Williams of Sitka; daughters Ann Marie James of Juneau and Leanna Williams of Mapleton, Ore.; son Aaron Williams of Sitka; grandchildren Samuel Dick, Johnathan Dick and Margaret Dick, all of Sitka, and Victor Williams, Samantha Williams and Charlie Ann Davis of Oregon; his mother, Janette Wright of Sitka; brothers Doug Williams and Mike (Mary) Williams, all of Sitka; uncles Everett Wright of Juneau and Ervin Wright of Anchorage; and aunt Loretta Wright.
His nephews are Benjamin Williams of Sitka, Jason Williams of Arizona, Doug Williams Jr. of Anchorage, Casey Johnson of Anchorage, Gaven Johnson of Anchorage; and his nieces are Rabekah Johnson, Stacie Johnson, Jamie Johnson and Kelly Wright, all of Anchorage.
His cousins are Mary Johnson, Neal Gillian, Elizabeth Williams, Joe Williams, Jeff Wright, Daniel Wright, Becky Wright, Mandy Wright, Deanette Griffen, Todd Wright and Donnie Griffen.
Clarence Buzz Dick will be the pallbearer, and honorary pallbearers are Aaron Williams, Samuel Dick, Johnathan Dick, Victor Williams, Mike Williams, Doug Williams, Jeff Wright, Danny Wright, Jason Williams, Doug Williams Jr., Leonard Nielsen, Jim Nielsen, Joe Johnson Sr., Herman James, Paul James, David James, Alan James, Russell James, Elliott James, Paul Chulik, Pastor Chet Rathban, Will Turner, James Weaver, Kale Pastel and Mike Hartshorn and Demitri Merculief.
Also, Josh Sachsenmaier, Al Duncan Jr., Chad Deguzman, Kelly Klingler, Roger Tally Sr., Greg Wright, Rusty Johnson, Henry Larsen-Wilbur, Shorty Larsen, Jesus Nieves, Ron Vanveen, Ned Chapman, Jim Richardson and Neal Gillian.
Memorial donations may be sent to Randy’s wife, Lana Williams, 909 Halibut Point Road, Apt. 44, Sitka, AK 99835.