Growing Up
He was born and raised in Louisiana, in the Tensas Parish. Louisiana is made of Parishes as opposed to counties in his residing state of Nevada. Within each Parish, there are three towns 10 miles apart from each other. Every child within the Parish (2,500) attended the same school. Williams lived in the area that had the greatest population decline in the US during the time. It was a very rural, small town. It was the poorest parish in the town. Teachers had no place to live in because of the economic circumstance so they often lived with the students. This was the case with Williams. Although it was unfortunate, it brought the community together and allowed them to all truly care for one another and build a close-knit community. His entire family is made up of teachers. He came from five generations of educators. His entire family valued education highly and put it up on a pedestal. This led him to become an educator himself and accomplish all of the incredible things he went on to do.
