Retired Army Ranger still thrives on serving others as part of creed

Army Rangers take an oath and live by a creed to always serve and protect. One retired Ranger continues to live out his creed in the Round Rock community and has been recognized for his efforts by the governor of Texas.

“When we take our oath, it’s for the rest of our life, not just while you’re in the military,” said Will Williams, a retired first sergeant.

Williams is this year’s recipient of the Governor’s Lone Star Achievement Award, which recognizes the service of a person who has volunteered for a minimum of 15 years.

Williams has served Round Rock for almost 20 years in several organizations and leadership roles.

Although Williams said he is honored by the award, he believes it belongs to everyone in the Round Rock community.

“One person can’t do anything, so the award is nice, but these awards belong to all of these people,” Williams said.

Williams moved to Round Rock about 20 years ago after retiring from the military and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, he said. “The only way to balance PTSD is to get involved,” he said.

Williams’ volunteer career began when he started a neighborhood watch organization to catch a “Peeping Tom.”

After that, Williams started a neighborhood association but only two people came to the first two meetings in his garage, he said. By the third meeting, the group had grown to over 40 people. The meetings were later moved to a local church because so many people began to show up, he said.

“It was all the neighbors working together,” Williams said.

Williams went on to help set up neighborhood watch organizations in Austin, San Antonio, Waco and Dallas.

The Round Rock volunteer group Sertoma heard of the neighborhood association Williams led and recruited him to be a part of its group, he said.

Many other volunteer groups then started contacting him to be a part of their organizations, and today, he is involved in over 18 volunteer groups and holds different leadership roles in many of them.

Many of these organizations send their members to volunteer at different events Williams coordinates around the city. He said he is connected through all of these organizations through Share the Will, a group of people who volunteer to help out at many different events, he said.

“We help any organization in Round Rock that needs assistance,” Williams said. “There was such a need. When organizations have a function going on, they always have a problem with finding volunteers. So we started a foundation of volunteers.”

Share the Will also operates a suicide hotline, which Williams, other volunteers and professionals answer and run, he said.

The Round Rock City Council honored Williams at its Sept. 24 meeting to spread awareness of him receiving the award.

“The state of Texas last week officially recognized what we’ve known in Round Rock for a long time and that is that Will Williams is freaking awesome,” said Mayor Alan McGraw. “Thanks to Will’s leadership, over $1 million has been raised for the Round Rock Foundation to benefit local charities.”