Gary often said, "I've cheated death so many times, every day is icing on the cake."

Gary Ray Williams, at sixty-eight years old, a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and very good friend, passed away quietly, in his home on Perdido Key, Friday July 21, 2017, sustained by the love of his family and friends.

Gary is a fifth generation native Floridian, born in Gainesville, Florida, to Ben F Williams Jr and Bettie A Carr Williams (both Pensacola natives). Gary grew up in the Pensacola area among his large Williams, Carter, Carr and Sasnett family. He was involved in a variety of sports, including baseball, football, sailing, diving, skiing, hunting and fishing. As a young boy, he spent many hours playing in the woods of Pensacola, Gulf Breeze and Lillian AL, hunting arrowheads; fishing the bays, rivers and gulf from Navarre to Mobile; sailing in Pensacola, Perdido and Mobile Bays. He attended Pensacola High School and graduated from Foley High School, where he was a pitcher for the baseball team.

Gary has always looked at life with a brightness of hope and an indominable spirit for adventure. As a teenager surfing near Alabama Point, he once rode into shore, jumped off his board, lifted it up quickly and smacked the water several times, paddled back out, surfed back in, slapped the water a few more times with his board and went at it again. After seeing him repeat this several times, his father asked him what he was doing. Gary answered, "Just chasing off a tiger shark that keeps following me." A metaphor for his life, Gary saw obstacles and danger as nothing more than nuisances and never anything to stop him from doing what he wanted to do. That would not be his last encounter with sharks of all kinds getting in his way. He had some wild, scary experiences throughout his life, but he wasn't much for telling them unless pressed, and even then, he usually gave a shrug of his shoulder and the short version.

Gary joined the USAF during the Viet Nam war and was part of a special operations group, positioned in Laos and Cambodia, running missions into Viet Nam. With that same bright-eyed forward spirit, Gary left the war behind and didn't look back once he was home.

Gary met Carmen F. Sierralta at the college they both attended in Virginia. They married and had one son, Jason Ray Williams, the treasure of their lives, and soon moved back to Gary's beloved Florida.

An inexhaustible worker, Gary built a robust stone crabbing business in South Florida. But rather than go to jail for using his sharp shooting skills on the pirates who were robbing his crabs and stealing his traps, he chose to move on to his favorite and longest career, tournament fishing. On the water with the guys is where he loved to be. He became a licensed sea captain and along with fishing tournaments, he worked for Hatteras Yacht, Inc. driving prototype boats to various places in the world to show for sale. Gary's career took him to many countries, fishing, showing and entertaining celebrities on boats, but most of his time was spent in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean competing with the most skilled captains and mates on the water. A true waterman, Gary loved the water and spent many months of the year away from his family, earning his living on the seas while his devoted wife Carmen, worked as a registered nurse and raised their son Jason. Gary eventually retired to his home with his wife on Perdido Key.

Anyone who knows Gary will tell you he was well known for diving headfirst into helping anyone, any time, with any big project that benefited him in no way other than the joy and satisfaction of helping. When he did anything, he went "all out." He didn't have to know you, and he didn't have to be invited. If he saw a friend or stranger needing help, he was all in. That stranger soon became his buddy and lifelong friend. To the marrow of his bones, he was a working, giving soul and a people person. He loved people, and was very sociable, giving his time and sharing his skills everywhere he went. Strangers were just friends he didn't know yet. If it was a helping hand that was needed, he'd show up first and leave last. You just couldn't expect him to speak in public or "share" his emotions. Only his opinion. His friends would be quick to add that you did NOT want to make him mad, and nothing did that quicker than red tape, bureaucracy or a politician's partisan "BS". He was a decisive person, ready to pull the trigger on a project, on a deal, on a situation, or, when necessary, on a fight. And he didn't chew too much on the outcome. At the core of his soul he was a guy who lived by the words "If it needs to be done, let's do it!"

Gary was always energetic, always going and doing, always buying and selling, always making deals and always enjoying the experiences, things and friends he collected along the way. He was the hardest, fastest working man many of us have ever known, yet his sense of humor was never lost in the work. Working with Gary and laughing with Gary was very often the same thing. The only thing that slowed him down in his later years was Peripheral Artery Disease in his legs. Long after doctors said they could do no more, that the next blockage would result in amputation, Gary was still refusing that outcome. Several operations later, the last time he stood on his legs was just a couple of weeks before he died. He refused to hug the wife of a good friend goodbye while lying down. He insisted on standing on his own two feet. With the help of family to steady him, he stood to hug her goodbye. That is the kind of can-do spirit he has always had. Born without a lazy bone or muscle in this southern boy's body, he grew up working hard, playing hard and eating plenty of fish, grits and greens. Being the hard worker he has always been, Gary would like everyone to know that it was his years of smoking that contributed most to this illness, and if anyone can benefit from his life we would like to share one last part of him with you: Work hard, have fun, laugh a lot, fish often, go all out sometimes, love with all your heart, help people in need, eat your greens and don't smoke.

In the end, however, it was not PAD that took Gary from us. Last year, fifteen minutes after his father passed away, Gary was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiform, an aggressive stage IV terminal cancer. As heartbreaking as a diagnosis like this is, Gary kept a positive attitude and refused to accept the outcome without a fight, trying experimental treatment which held the cancer at bay for a short while, giving him a little more time. His wife of 43 years, Carmen, a retired RN, was his caregiver, night and day, giving him an abundance of attention, comfort and love, as always.

Preceding him in death are his father Benjamin F Williams (d. 2016); his mother Bettie A Carr Williams (d. 2014), Lillian, AL., and his daughter-in-law Tracey Lee Doris Bruce (d. 2015) New Zealand.

Gary is survived by his much beloved wife Carmen F. Sierralta Williams, his son and pride and joy Jason Ray Williams (New Zealand), his cherished grandchildren Cass Monita Williams and Thomas Felipe Williams; his younger sister Cindy-Rae Williams Jones (husband Tim), Lillian, AL, seven nieces and nephews, twelve grand nieces and nephews, and last but certainly not least are his wonderful, beloved friends who are too many to mention them all, but closest of all are his sweet and devoted friend, Johnny Moore ,who has stayed by Gary's side, helping and loving him as a brother for many years, and his kind and trusted friend, Bill Gonzalez, who has been his good friend, also like a brother, for many years. Gary also leaves behind many extended family members in the Pensacola area who remember him as the handsome, fun cousin who had a way of making them feel special.

Gary's ashes will be scattered at sea, in a private memorial, as requested. There will be no funeral or memorial service, so this page may serve as the gathering place, and "open mic" if you wish to share an experience or a thought about Gary for his posterity to record and keep. Though the family will observe Gary's wishes for no funeral service, we would very much love to read and know any fun, memorable experiences with him that you wish to share.

We will miss him while we are apart, and have a joyful reunion when we see him again, full of life! He requested that we thank everyone who prayed for him. He felt your sustaining prayers and was so touched and appreciative to know that so many people, even strangers, took the time and care to pray for him.