Callie Louise Sloan Williams died on July 18, 2009 in Callaway Gardens Alzheimer Care Center in Kennewick. She began life in Casa, Arkansas on October 10, 1915, the seventh of eight children born to Francis Ella Roberts and James Harrison Sloan. Louise grew up and graduated high school in Gore, in northeastern Oklahoma. She married Orley Warren Williams, a schoolteacher in nearby Vian, on Dec. 28, 1933. When the school year was over there was no income so they moved to Tahlequah to live with Warren's mother. There, he found work with the WPA because he had a team of horses. Friends who had traveled to California contacted Warren because the sawmill they worked for needed a left-handed pitcher for their baseball team. Warren rode the rails across country, avoiding the violence many riders suffered by jumping off early when coming into a town, and sleeping in baseball dugouts. After working at the sawmill in Bieber a few weeks he sent for Louise, who left her home and family for the first time in her life. She traveled by bus and ate in her first restaurant, a bus stop diner counter. They made their home in Nubieber near Mt. Lassen in northern California, where Warren went to work for the Great Northern Railroad. Louise waitressed in a hotel until their children were born: Sue Ella in 1940, and Mary Louise in 1942. In 1943 the family moved in the dead of winter to the Tri-Cities, where Warren worked in construction at Hanford, then became a power operator. They became lifelong friends with Lita and Eldon Crawford who came to the area at the same time with their two children. When the children reached school age, Louise went to work for General Electric in Research and Development at a metallurgy lab in 300 Area for the next 17 years and was delighted to have her name included on patents registered with the U.S. Government. In 1958 she joined West Side United Protestant Church and became an active member. Finally, the kids raised and married, Louise quit lab work to take up her other interests, including dancing, golf, bridge, crafts of all kinds, stitch work of all kinds, sorority meetings, classes at BMCC, and helping to raise and spoil her grandson, Freddie. Every fall they had a standing date to go school shopping for clothes and supplies. Every Thanksgiving weekend they had a standing date for Christmas shopping in Seattle. She finally grew restless and went back to work -- in clothing alterations at J.C. Penney. The couple continued ballroom dancing and golfing with the Elks club, participating in Masonic Lodge activities, and when Warren retired, started traveling. Warren developed lung cancer in 1976, but stayed fairly active especially on the golf course, until his death in 1986. Louise then declared she was tired of taking care of a garden, and had the entire yard landscaped. But she gradually added back "a few tomato plants, just a cucumber or two, maybe some green beans…''. The fruit trees Warren had planted continued to bear apricots, apples, and peaches that were shared with friends and neighbors. Louise's photo appeared in the Tri-City Herald with her hundred of tulips in bloom. She could make anything grow. Louise was a very gregarious person and would call other widows to come over to play cards, dominoes, go out to celebrate birthdays with pizza parties, and have potlucks in her beautiful back yard.. She participated in events at West Side Church and the Senior Center. Everywhere she went she made more friends. She was a member of the racquet club for over two decades and also enjoyed her exercise bike, walks around Spalding School, swimming, and just keeping fit. She traveled with friends to New York, the Caribbean, Alaska, and other places. As the years passed, her neighbor, Don Parchen, made it possible for Louise to stay in the ranch house the family had moved into in 1958. Every week for over 20 years he took the garbage out to the curb on his way to work and returned it on the way home. In her later years, he visited nightly and made sure the doors were locked when he left. He made countless repairs, shared his homemade bread and homemade meals with her, and drove her where she needed to go. She loved him dearly and said he was like the son she never had. Her 80th birthday was celebrated with 50 longtime friends and her favorite sister, Juanita, who came from New Mexico to join the celebration at the Meadow Springs Country Club. Her daughter gave her a computer and after acquainting herself with it by playing bridge and learning to e-mail, she took lessons at 83, and wrote her memoirs. Her 90th birthday was celebrated with high tea at the Hampton Inn. Friends from all stages of her life joined in the celebration. In between those years, she had a true romance with Dar Lambier, whom she had met at the Senior Center, enjoying bridge, dancing, parties, walks along the Columbia River, traveling around the state and a cruise to Alaska. After he died, his children kept in touch with Louise and visited her whenever they were in the area. His grandchildren kept the apricots picked, since the supposed dwarf tree had grown to be 20 feet tall. When Louise was 89 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she fought and won. But Alzheimer's was taking its toll; there were some unexpected adventures that caused anxious moments for family and neighbors, but she remained in her home on Acacia Avenue for 50 years. After she moved to Callaway Gardens, Sheila Phillips and John Lipp of West Side were constant visitors, which she appreciated and enjoyed. Activities Director Mary Pat made sure she attended all musical events and danced her around in her wheelchair. Louise was preceded in death by husband Warren and daughter Sue Ella, who died in a bicycle accident at age 38. She is survived by daughter MLou Williams of Hermiston, OR; grandson Frederick Harold Bauscus II of Kenmore, WA; sister Juanita McLemore of Alamogordo, NM, and daughters Frances and Barbara; nephew Philip Sloan of Gore, OK; niece Betty Jo Sloan Rohde of Bixby OK, and countless others. Louise is remembered on a brick her daughter purchased when the Hermiston Public Library was being funded in 1988. It says "Louise Williams – A Successful Woman." Memorials may be sent to West Side Center, c/o West Side Church, 615 Wright Avenue, Richland, WA 99352. There will be no funeral, as she is busy, dancing in Heaven.