Auburn, June 13, 2002 --- The lives of Wayne Ford and Ronny Williams were intertwined in so many ways.

Growing up in Clay County, they attended rival high schools in Lineville and Ashland. Later, they ended up at Auburn University pursuing almost identical paths that would later lead to careers as Cooperative Extension agents – Ford as a Tuscaloosa County Extension agent, Williams as an agent in Talladega County.

(Above: Jimmy and Patrick Williams assist with the planting of a white oak tree at a memorial service, held June 10 at the Alabama 4-H Youth Development Center in Columbiana, to commemorate the life of their late father, Ronny Williams, a Talladega County Extension agent.)

Throughout their careers, both maintained a passionate and enduring commitment to 4-H youth environmental education, even sharing the unique distinction of coaching national forestry judging championship teams.

Only hours after Williams’ unexpected passing on April 20, Ford and other Extension agents throughout Alabama resolved to do something to honor the legacy of their friend and coworker.

"We got together and quickly decided we wanted to do something for Ronny – something special and permanent," Ford recalls.

He and other agents decided to proclaim the first day of the 2002 Alabama 4-H Forestry Judging Contest as "Ronny Williams Day" to commemorate Williams’ devoted service to 4-H youth education in his county and state.

"Ronny made such a positive impact on so many children," Ford recalled during the memorial service held in Williams’ honor. "I think our goal, as Extension agents, should be to re-dedicate ourselves to doing as much as Ronny did for people. He was such a positive influence on Extension and all young people involved in 4-H programs."

The event, held June 10 at the Alabama 4-H Youth Development Center in Columbiana, was followed by a tree planting, carried out with the assistance of Williams’ two sons, Jimmy and Patrick, both members of their father’s national championship forestry judging team in 2001.

"We thought the only logical thing to do was to plant a tree at the 4-H Center," says Lee County Extension Agent Chuck Browne, another one of Williams’ coworkers. "It’s a place where Ronny spent so much time training so many young people."

Agents selected a white oak tree to plant in Williams’ memory, Browne says, "because it is one of the longest living trees in the forest and has been documented to live as long as 400 years."

"The tree is also the dominant mass-producing tree in the Eastern United States – often called the king of the oaks -- a long-lived and very strong tree and one that we thought appropriate for honoring Ronny’s memory," he adds.

The site on which the tree was planted is also significant, Brown says, because it was the area where agents met and decided to establish a 4-H forestry judging program in Alabama.

"It was one of the programs in which Ronny was so involved and taught so many young people about forestry," he says.

Following the planting, participants were invited to join in singing "Amazing Grace."

The service was closed with a scripture reading by Ford from Psalms 1: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

In addition to sons Jimmy and Patrick, Williams is survived by his wife, Janice, a daughter, Sandy, and one grandson, Parker.