James R. Williams

James (Jim) Richard Williams, proud father of 2 children, 24 and 21, of Homen, WI, passed away at Gundersen Lutheran in La Crosse, WI of a cardiac arrest on July 8th 2025.

He was born in La Crosse, WI in 1967 to Fern Williams, and grew up in La Crescent, MN on the family farm. Jim graduated from La Crescent-Hokah Middle/High School in 1986. After high school he joined the Navy in 1987 and served 2 years active duty and 4 years reserved. After leaving the military he went to college in Winona, MN for police science. He had many jobs in his life, working at a gas station in high school, then coming back from the military to work at Kwik Trip in La Crosse, WI. He also worked for Trane Company but the last jobs he had were driving school buses for the School District of Holmen and driving limos for Luxury Limos in Holmen. He worked hard to help support his family.

Jim was a devoted and loving father to Sean and Nicole (Nikki) Williams, who dearly miss him and the life lessons he imparted to them. Among them was to always be proud of what you do and don’t let anyone ruin your pride.

He took great pride in being a parent, especially because he took the job as bus driver to stay close with his kids and was proud to see his son and daughter graduate from high school because his mother never had the option to. His daughter got engaged in December of 2023 and is getting married in September of 2025. He was so excited to see his daughter get married and would always brag about how proud he was to be there for her.

Jim was preceded in death by Fern Williams in April of 2019, and is survived by his wife, Denise Williams, his son, Sean Williams, and his daughter, Nicole Williams.

A gathering for family and friends will be held on Friday, July 18th, 2025, from 10:00 AM until 12:00 Noon at the Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services of La Crescent, 111 So. Oak Street. Burial with military honors will be held in Toledo Cemetery, La Crescent on the same day.

His family thanks everyone who has been supportive to them through these tough times. Not only did his family lose an amazing husband and loving father, his friends lost an astonishing friend. He would tell his family about all his tomfoolery back in his glory days. He was a huge prankster and had very fond memories of all the silly things he and his friends would do. He was gone too soon but will never be forgotten through the good memories we have of him. We all loved his big golden heart so much. We will all love and miss him forever.