Beloved Tanglewood Elementary security officer passes away
Fort Worth TX Jan 21 2021
“Friday, Friday, Friday. Good ol’ Friday!”
That’s how students at Tanglewood Elementary started and ended their last school day of the week for 27 years.
And it’s one of the biggest things they’ll remember about Alex Williams, who during those 27 years served as Tanglewood’s campus safety and security officer turned his weekend chant into a spirit anthem. It’s been printed on T-shirts, cheered over morning announcements and shouted to and by kids as they walked out of the school building to start their weekends.
While Principal Dana McKenzie said that tradition will continue, along with a spirit of serving kids no matter the circumstances that Williams was such a proud champion of, many at the school are in mourning.
Williams died Wednesday due to heart complications brought on by sickle cell anemia, a disease that affects the shape of red blood cells and their ability to carry oxygen through the body. He was 47.
McKenzie said students and employees will remember Williams for things like times he put a wig on during Friday morning announcements, used an accent and pretended to be a different person.
“He would say something like, ‘I’m Mr. Williams’ better lookin’ brother from another mother,’ ” McKenzie said. “He’d wear that wig in the halls and the kids would call him ‘the better looking brother’ the whole day.”
Williams would also make a point to know the names of every student, the cars their parents drove to ensure they were safe and remembered unique things like interests or hobbies of each student.
Robert Pike said he was in the third grade when Williams was hired. Later, when he was in college and he and a friend went to the school court to play basketball, they saw Williams.
“Mr. Williams didn’t hesitate,” Pike said. “He recognized me and called me by name some 15 years after I had left Tanglewood.”
Pike said Williams was a lot more than a security guard. He’d regularly play basketball with students at recess who didn’t have anybody else to play with and was always there to lend a hand when needed.
Pike and McKenzie said Williams will be remembered also for his love of University of Texas football and North Carolina basketball.
McKenzie said Williams’ death has been hard on many students. He would be in and out of the hospital due to complications from sickle cell, but he always came back with the same energy and happiness, she said, so the students didn’t think much of his absence at first.
Tamara H Williams, his wife, will be holding a memorial service Friday at 3:30 p.m, at the park across from the school. Community members are asked to bring blue and yellow balloons to release to represent the school colors or burnt orange in memory of his love for UT football.
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