Toni Fay Williams

Toni Fay Williams, of Kosse, passed away on August 23, 2019 at age 64.

Visitation will be held at Groesbeck Funeral Home on Tuesday, August 27, 2019 from 6:00-8:00 P.M.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel, with Rev. James Wedgeworth and Pastor Alan Grisham of the First Baptist Church of Buffalo officiating.   Music will be provided by Matt and Beth Hewitt.  Burial will follow in Kosse City Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Matt Hewitt, Richie Williamson, Stetson Williamson, Jessie Merryman, Sterling Merryman, and Clint Ferris.  Honorary pallbearers will be Jett Cowen, Joseph Wedgeworth, Hayden Nelson, Robert Turpin, David Wilson, and Matt Owens.

Toni was born July 10, 1955, along with her twin sister Donna (who was ten minutes younger), to Ralph Leonard Wedgeworth, and Shirley Fay Cooper Wedgeworth in Vidor.   The family, which included a younger brother, lived in many other towns and states while she was growing up, until she graduated from Vidor High School in 1973.   She had enjoyed playing the clarinet and alto clarinet in the high school band.

Toni married in June of 1973 and was blessed with two children, Tressie and Bubba.   After five years of marriage, she divorced and became a single mother, raising her children mostly on her own.   She worked two and for a short time, three jobs to make enough money to provide for her children.  The income was enough for essentials and nothing more.  It was tough but they managed and were happy.   Toni lived all her life in Texas, including Vidor, Highlands, Brenham, New Baden and rural Kosse.   She was Texas born and had no desire to live anywhere else.

While living at New Baden, she went to work in Franklin at the Robertson County Courthouse.    After moving to rural Kosse, she continued to work at the courthouse, for a total of seven years.  

Toni was introduced to trail riding and mule driving by friends, and enjoyed this along with her son Bubba for around the past fifteen years.   She had always loved horses, and also loved her dog and cat pets.

Toni started writing poems as gifts to family and friends in the early 70’s when money was sometimes scarce and she wanted to give something that came from her heart.   Some of her poems were published May 2019 in a book, “Life’s Road” and she has many more poems left behind for her family to treasure.   Some of the poems were based on actual events and others came from random thoughts in her vivid imagination.

In 2016, Toni was diagnosed with Lung Cancer and underwent two surgeries and some treatments to free her body from this awful monster.   During a period she was cancer-free, she thanked God on a daily basis.  She wrote a special message in her book that everyone can take daily inspiration from in knowing her thoughts:  “I am just a country girl who likes the simple things in life.  I try to live my life with no regrets and to never meet a stranger.   Today, my family is still just as loving and caring as they have always been, and God still loves me.   I don’t question things in my life and I don’t judge.   Every day is a good day and I live it one day at a time.”

Toni was preceded in death by her parents; all of her grandparents; sister-in-law, Kathy Wedgeworth; and uncle, Anthony Cooper.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Tressie and James Roark and grandson, Jett Cowen, all of Burton; son, Bubba Williams of Kosse; twin sister and brother-in-law, Donna and Melvin Barrilleaux of Buffalo; brother and sister-in-law, Ralph and Carol Wedgeworth of Vidor; nephew, James and wife Lori Wedgeworth of Caser, North Carolina, and their children, Joseph and Robert;  and niece, Stephanie and her husband Devon Finley of Vidor and children, Haley, Hayden and Allysun.