August Nineteenth: in memory of Luke Williams

Johnny Ross (as all his cousins call him!) was not only Luke's cousin but life long friend. Here is a photo of JP honoring Luke.  He carried around this very heavy backpack all day handing out Gatorade with Luke's badge from last year's retreat attached.  The main speaker also had a moment of silence to honor Luke before he began to speak. Unity Retreat 2017 We love you, JP!

Erica wrote a beautiful reflection on her blog.  Please visit her page to check it out. Ericamcfarland.blogspot.com

Kids volunteered to make sample painted rocks for the Mining Museum in Luke's honor.  So, of course we had to have Snickers :) (Pat Ware- their grandma)

We said a rosary for Luke and all the boys and girl in cenacolo today! Happy birthday, Luke! Thank you, Michelle.

I only met Luke once, when he came with his mom while she did bookwork at WMUG. I talked with him ever so briefly, and really only ever talked with Cathy briefly. But she was a sweet, kind person, and our family has had enough dealings with addicts and alcoholics to empathize with what you all had gone through. Reading Luke’s father’s eulogy took me deeper into what you were all going through now, and I cannot fathom the depths of sorrow and grief. I can only say I’ll be praying for you all, and I know that Holy Spirit calls Himself the Comforter because the Lord knew we would need comforting. I will pray that He works deeply in all your hearts. And I will take seriously doing something specifically in honor of Luke, as you suggest on the website. God bless you all; please pass this along to Cathy, and let her know I mourn with her and am praying for her. with love in Jesus Christ, Jackie 

We still have some posts to put up from our first August Nineteenth. This has been so inspiring to me and I'd like to see it become an annual thing.  We can continue working off the existing idea list but here are two new ones: 1) Visit Dairy Queen.  Luke worked there in high school and many times his sisters were on the receiving end of free ice cream :) Pay for the people behind you in honor of Luke. 2) Bring clothes and personal care items to donate to a rehab center. Feel free to comment or email any other ideas!!

Nora from Buffalo, NY chose to honor Luke by treating the altar servers at her church.  Thank you, Nora!

My sister in law Michelle was the first person I called after Luke's death.  Her kind support got me through the tough first week and she has kept checking in on me ever since. She remembered Luke in such a special way. On Saturday, she came over for a visit and brought delicious enchiladas along with tiramisu. The dessert is such a labor intensive recipe that I always felt so loved when Luke made it for me (And he did make it especially for me on several occasions). Thank you, Michelle, for making sure I felt Luke's presence on his birthday! The best brother

Luke's birthday was celebrated in many different areas of the country.  Here are some from Maryland. Jessica, thank you for taking gatorade to your police station! Lynne took her kids to church and prayed the rosary.  Thank you so much! Your prayers for us are felt and appreciated. Michele sent a donation to one of the charities we mentioned.  That means a lot to us, thank you! Beth sent something to Luke's fiancee, Desiree.  That is so thoughtful! I'm sure it is comforting to her to have Luke's birthday remembered and celebrated. Rebecca played cards with her mom in memory of Luke.  That is so awesome! Playing games as a family is something we will always cherish.  Thank you!

This post will contain some of the acts in memory of Luke emailed to me by various people on August 19. 1. Kaitlyn Dudek and family "So we went to the rehab and recovery hospital in York to deliver some cookies to the nurses there. I gave them the note and explained what we were doing and why and they were really appreciative, especially one nurse, started tearing up and said she had dealt with addiction in her family and understood what you guys are going through. They all told me to offer you and your family their condolences. Right after that we headed over to visit my grandmother and when we walked in she was sitting around the table playing cards with her old people friends all in their wheelchairs and they had just finished playing Phase 10 and were about to start a game of Rummy. I couldn't believe it. ❤️" 2. Tiffany Catherman "My household doesn't like tortillas that are usually used in enchiladas, but they love this enchilada dip that ...

Hi Williams family, I met Luke through community Cenacolo. My brother Peter was in community with Luke. Luke was an absolute joy and I am saddened that is no longer on earth. However, I was filled with joy thinking about him and praying for you all today as I went about getting snickers to our altar servers. I brought a bag full of Snickers to Saint Benedict  Catholic Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am sure random acts of kindness and fun have been done all over the world in memory of Luke. What a wonderful tribute and such love you have for your brother. God bless you all, Susan MacNeil Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, Susan! God bless, the Williams Family

August 19, 2017 I woke up on August 19 th and of course, Luke was already awake.  First in my thoughts, as with each day, was a prayer for the repose of Luke’s soul.  Next my thoughts turned to those close to Luke who might need an encouraging word. I sent text messages to numerous people, both recovering and active users.  I also sent messages to those engaged in helping the addicted.  I promised to say some special prayers for each of them.  And I know that Luke also joined me in those prayers. I dressed myself in Luke’s green Mexico shirt which he attained while serving as a missionary in Valle de Bravo, Mexico. And I also wore my green Boy Scout shorts.  Luke and I were involved in Scouts together from Tiger Cubs to him attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Next I joined Cathy, Erica and Elizabeth in taking Gatorade and chips to the police department.   Luke was seated beside me.  It was ironic in that 10 yea...

These comments left on the blog are so amazing, they needed to be collected and repeated. Thank you to the ones below who took the time to honor Luke and let us know about it.  You are in our prayers always. From Bill Capone... I went with Suggestion 9 - reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a long time. I called Dutch Abram. I lived with Dutch for two years when I lived in Germany, way back in the 1980's. I remember telling a friend that I worked with at CTC, that I was overdue for calling Dutch. I haven't worked at CTC since 2012, so I've been thinking of doing this for at LEAST 5 years. When you live with someone for 2 years they become almost a brother. Dutch was an usher at my wedding. So I first called his cell phone, but it was disconnected. I still had his childhood home phone, his mom answered and she gave me his current cell number. He was at work, but I left him a voicemail. He called me back this evening. We had a GREAT conversation. There was s...

Hi,  I'm Liz. I celebrated Luke's birthday by getting a tattoo on my side that says, “just breathe.” This phrase has been meaningful to me ever since I learned that reduced blood flow to my brain during a panic attack results in feeling disoriented and out of reality. I learned that literally I can “just breathe” to make it through a panic attack. Having anxiety is something that Luke and I shared and I will remember him and all that God has done in my life since his death when I see or think about my tattoo. Another reason I like this phrase is that despite whatever crazy things are going on in my life, every day stressors to much bigger issues, God will bring me through it if I just breathe. Just breathing is literally the only thing required of me. God can handle the rest. My tattoo will forever remind me of Luke, all the things that I have learned since he died, my recommitment to being strong in faith and never giving the devil a foothold, and the fact that no m...

Hi, I'm Grace, the 7th sibling in the Williams family. I thought I'd share a little of what we did yesterday in honor of Luke. Soon we will post some of the awesome things other people did as well!  I started off Luke's birthday in the Chicago O'Hare airport, on my way back from visiting my sister Laura. We were waiting for our flight when midnight came, and I got a chance to go off by myself for awhile and talk to Luke. After I was home, my Dad, Mom, sister Erica and sister Liz came to pick me up, stopping first to take drinks and snacks to the police station.                                                 Then, we stopped by St. Bernard Church with some Snickers for the altar servers (we tried not to take too many for ourselves!). We p...

Hello, everybody. I'm Laura, the sister born two years after Luke.  "The pregnant one" from the photo below. August 19th, 2017 started off rough for me.  I felt the effects of grief physically, like there was a big weight on my chest the moment I woke up.  The first battle was just getting out of bed.  Once I started my day, I had to convince myself over and over to keep going. My desire to honor Luke's memory eventually won out. We started with a shopping trip... My helpers Chips, granola bars, and clementines:) Next, we drove to our local YMCA. The place where my kids swim and do many other activities The note I left with the snacks read: "Dear YMCA staff, When I was a little girl at swim lessons, I was terrified to jump in the deep end.  My teacher had me sit on the side and watch for awhile and then brought my older brother over from his lesson.  He sat beside me and told me I could win against fear.  He encour...