Nelsene Lynn "Grandma" Williams

Nelsene Lynn “Grandma” Williams, formerly of Teague, passed away at the Freestone Hospital in Teague on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at age 71.

Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 24, 2023, at King Cemetery, Thornton, Tx., with Pastor Jon Honea officiating.

Pallbearers will be James Woodall, Chris Bond, Joseph Sullivan, Tyler Nobles and Jesse Woodall.

Nelsene was born December 5, 1951, to Lynnwood Brannan, Jr. and Meta Mae (Swanson) Brannon in Houston.    She was raised in Houston where she lived a great part of her life.

She began her family with a son, Hunter, and after marriage with Jesse Nobles, two daughters, Christine and Jessica were added to her family.   Nelsene had a nurturing and loving nature with children and with all animals, birds, fish, and even spiders and snakes.    She worked at the Houston Zoo where she took care of the baby cats in the wild-cat nursery. 

Nelsene moved to Colorado for a few years where she worked as a pastry chef, then returned back to the Houston area.  She learned her life-time career as a dog groomer while working as an apprentice, and then ran her own dog grooming business as a mobile service.    Over her lifetime, she also had many breeding enterprises, which included angel fish bred and raised for sale and the live bait she raised to feed them, many other breeds of fish, sugar gliders (tiny squirrels), dogs and birds.  The birds she raised included parakeets, macaw, cockatoos and cockatiels. 

Nelsene married Leo J. Williams on February 18, 1990.  They had lived in various parts of the Houston area where she could be close to the ocean. When their home was destroyed in the 2005 hurricane, Nelsene and Leo moved to Groesbeck to live with her daughter Jessica.  She set up a dog grooming shop at their house in Groesbeck.   She was able to return with Jessica and family to Galveston in 2016 and then back to Groesbeck in 2020, and then moved to her final home in Teague.  

Nelsene loved to watch all horror and ghost movies and any TV shows about the paranormal. 

Nelsene was “Grandma” to a large family of grandchildren and great grandchildren most of whom lived around Groesbeck.   Grandchildren described her as the most giving person they knew, who thought of everyone else before herself.  She would help anybody that needed help with an animal and even board them.   Her passion for animals especially included the older ones which she would adopt from shelters and take care of for the remainder of their life.

She taught granddaughters how to groom and raise pets, and gardening, and most importantly she taught them love.

Nelsene was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Leo J. Williams in 2009.

She is survived by her son, Andrew Hunter Leone of South Carolina; daughter and son-in-law, Christine Meta Woodall and James “Bubba” Woodall; and daughter and son-in-law, Jessica Renee Tollett and Chris Bond.

The 12 grandchildren are:  Justin Leone, Taylor Leone, Mark Leone, Shalamar Leone, Vincent Leone, Mia Leone, Tyler Jordan Nobles, Jesse James Woodall and his wife Chelsea Woodall, Katheryn Woodall, Brittany Lynn D’Angelo and husband Michael D’Angelo, Joseph Sullivan and wife Cheyanne Sullivan, and Rachael Sullivan. 

There are 13 great grandchildren: Zoey Nobles, Braxten Nobles, Kaisen Nobles, Christian Woodall, Jesse James Woodall, Jr., Ropyr Woodall, Telulah D’Angelo, Olivia Valdez, Aloura D’Angelo, Asher D’Angelo, Kaden Sullivan, Laken Sullivan and Huxten Sullivan.  

She is also survived by her brother, Lynnwood Brannan, III of Arizona, and former husband, Jesse Nobles (father of Christine and Jessica.)