Michael Charles Williams

I am the oldest of four children. These are my memories and observations and they may differ from my siblings. My dad’s first love was his work. His science, students, colleagues, and the challenge involved with his research. His second love was sports. He loved professional and college baseball, basketball, and football. Obviously, his favorite college football team was the Cal Bears. He was even in the stadium for that crazy play when the band stormed the field during the last play of the game! His love of sports was so intense that I remember as a young boy my dad would listen to a game on the radio and have two small TVs set up all with different games. Three games at once! But that wasn’t all. During all of this he was grading his student’s papers in his red ink. He loved red ink! When the sports were over for the day, he would continue with is work late into the night. This was my dad’s life every day of the week. He loved it! I think it’s admirable to have passions so strong that it drives one to keep going every single day. As a young boy I wanted to go into work with my dad. So, sometimes, we would go into his office at Berkeley and I would spend the day (really bored) drawing on his chalk board. He focused on his work which was usually with a red pen. Sometimes he needed to do a calculation and that’s when he took out his slide rule. It was truly impressive the way he used that tool. I don’t know what came of his slide rule but whenever I see one, I always think of him. Dad also liked to play sports. I remember how much he enjoyed playing on the men’s softball team, the Polar Bears. He made time for them but sometimes work took the priority. Later in life when I became a young adult, I asked my dad if he’d like to play on my softball team. To my surprise he agreed! He often played 3rd base and I’d play 1st base. In fact, he remembered fondly one particular play where he scooped up the ball, tagged 3rd base for a force out, and threw out the runner going to first. The play was a good one but what stuck with him was the fact the he did this with his son. I remember that play too. I recall two memorable vacations when dad would take a sabbatical and we’d travel by car across country as a family. One was going to Canada where one of my sisters choked on a bean and stopped breathing for a little bit and one across the southern US to Florida, up the coast to Maine where I think he attended a conference, through New York, and on to Wisconsin. We paused in Wisconsin because one of my sisters was very, very sick with walking pneumonia and almost died. When she was recovering in Wisconsin then most of us left for Kentucky and then back up to Wisconsin. From there we traveled to South Dakota (I think) and headed home to Walnut Creek, CA. Anyway, there were many sights we saw and ones I recall were of people and animals and the beaches. In fact, it was the first time that I encountered real racism as traveled through the southern states. We also would encounter major storms that we don’t usually see in the Bay Area and that was totally awesome. Even though work was his first love my dad also made time for my theatrical products. In high school I was in almost every production. Sometime just as part of the chorus, perhaps a simple walk on role, a supporting role, or even a lead role. No matter what my involvement was with the play my parents were always there for one production. I’ll always remember that too. It was very special to me. This was even more impressive when one realizes that they had to endure all my practicing of memorizing lines or rehearsing songs while at home. So, seeing the play was the culmination of hearing the repetition at home over and over and over… Well, you get the picture. My dad also loved puns and so do I. I learned that from him so well that it’s almost impossible to turn it off. Those closest to me have learned to ignore it or it’s simply too funny and we all have a good laugh. Oddly enough I always laugh at my own jokes. Thanks, dad. When my dad divorced, he left Berkeley and Alberta became the benefactor. Since my dad always goes all in then it was natural for him to learn to love another sport, hockey. He became quit the fan as a citizen of Canada. My dad and I didn’t really talk much as adults but when we did it would be about sports and sometimes a little bit about politics. He didn’t really share his work with me nor his many accomplishments and what they meant to him or to the University or to the world. But I knew he was very well regarded and was a leader in his field. He is missed by so many people and his work will live on.