Robert Edgar Williams

Robert “Bob” Edgar Williams, 82, of Kansas City, MO passed away unexpectedly on August 6, 2025. 

Bob was born on October 10, 1942 in Houston, TX, the son of Martha Slack Williams and Edgar Yoist Williams. Bob married Katherine “Kakie” Foote Williams on August 19th, 1964 in Baker, LA. They had four children - Stephen, Brian, Patrick and Jennifer.

Bob graduated from Baker High School in 1960 as an honor student and member of the track and football teams. He then attended LSU, earning both a BS and PhD in Physics. After earning his PhD in the early 1970s, Bob and his family moved to Kansas City to work at Bendix/Honeywell. He worked there for 35 years and retired in 2005.

Bob loved to read, do math problems on any scrap of paper available, eat lots of ice cream and tell really terrible dad jokes. As a joke, he told family and friends he was a “top government scientist.” If asked what he did in his job, he would smile and say “I’d have to shoot you if I told you.” Bob was an active and avid member of the John Knox Kirk Presbyterian Church in South Kansas City and he sang in the choir for a number of years.

Bob will be missed by his wife Kakie, his children Stephen B. (Sandi) Williams, Brian S. Williams, Patrick P. Williams, and Jennifer W. Beckley (Rob); his grandchildren Ryan H. Williams, Kayla J. Williams, and Samantha G. Williams; his siblings Barbara Jane Williams Button and Clarence Euguene Williams; his in-laws Barbaba Foote and Ellen Tauzin; his nieces and nephews Tracy Button Arnold (Brad), Chris Button (Carrie), Drew Button (Tara), Cory Williams (Aimee), Parrish Foote IV (Rachele) and Ashley Foote (Kim); as well as a host of cousins, great-nieces/nephews, church friends, German exchange students and many more.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents Martha and Edgar, his sister Rita Lynn Williams Logan, his niece Kimberley Logan-Drell, his in-laws Irving and Dorothy Foote Jr., and Parrish Foote III.

A memorial service will be held on September 13, 2025 at 1:30pm at the John Knox Kirk Presbyterian Church in south Kansas City. Interment of ashes will be at a later date in Louisiana at a private family ceremony.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to Veterans Community Project, Habitat for Humanity, or another charity of your choice may be made in his honor.