James Williams, who served Colton High School as the Whitmer Auditorium Technician from 1999 until his retirement in 2010, passed away from stroke-related complications on October 29. He was 75 years old.

To his friends and colleagues at Colton High School, Williams was a jack of all trades, a DIY everyman who was always available and willing to provide his support and passion for the benefit of the high school and its students.

Jan Aldrich, former drama and choir director, said that when she first met Williams, he told her he was a “custodian.” “I knew that’s not what he was,” she said, drawing on her experience in the theater over the years. “He was a stage manager, and a great one. He was a stage manager, an ally, and someone you couldn’t afford to be without.”

Others who worked with Williams shared similar experiences. Kim Guadagnoli, Grand Terrace High’s drama instructor, used to run Colton’s program, and knew Williams well. “I missed him when he retired because there wasn’t another Jim who was there,” she said.

Jim Williams was born on December 4, 1945 in San Bernardino. He grew up in the Inland Empire and graduated from San Bernardino High School as part of their class of 1964. After graduation, Williams lived a number of lives.

Among those lives included serving in the U.S. Navy; driving a cab to get through his Geology program at San Bernardino Valley College; working as an OmniTrans bus driver; and hawking a number of products at carnivals, fairs, and trade shows. In a Facebook post on November 21, 2013, Williams shared, “I have held more jobs than the number of years I am old.” He was 68.

J.R. Fisher, Custodial Supervisor for Colton Joint Unified School District, started working with Williams in 1996, when Williams was hired as a Campus Supervisor for Colton High. “He was a salesperson,” FIsher shared. “He was always selling something. Off the wall stuff, like the shammies. He was one of those guys at the Orange Show who was always calling you over to say, ‘Let me sell you this.’”

It was this charismatic approach to working with people that Williams built his stellar reputation at Colton High as a tireless advocate for the Whitmer, the programs it hosted, and the students working in them. After working for three years as a campus supervisor, Williams earned his electrical certification at Valley College, and Colton offered him the auditorium supervisor position.

From there, he became synonymous with the Whitmer. During assemblies, Williams roved through the aisles, carrying a sheet of paper upon which students had to spit out their gum. He pulled kids aside for eating or drinking or putting their feet up on the theater seats.

“He saw a kid eating a snack in the auditorium, and lectured him so much that the kid probably never ate another thing in his life,” said Tom Wurz, CHS Print Shop and ROP Graphics Communications teacher.

That care and protectiveness extended to the students as well. Williams gave his time generously to the CHS Drama program, staying late with students, teaching them the ins-and-outs of the technical side of the theater, from running the lightboard, managing the sound, and building sets.

Stacey Baker served as director of the CHS Drama program from 1999-2004 before moving into her current role as an English teacher. She remembers Williams’ creative approach to stagecraft. “I remember one time we were working on the set of ‘Wizard of Oz,’ and he came up with this really amazing idea to make a set on wheels where you could turn it and it would be a different scenery. We were able to do all the different sets. They were a triangle, and all we had to do was turn it to make it a different part of the play. It really made that play come alive.”

That investment of time and passion stemmed from the belief that community is family. Family meant the world to Williams, especially his second wife, Yvonne, whom he married in 1993 for purely practical reasons. Yvonne, who already had children from a previous relationship, was not interested in getting married, despite their love for one another. However, when Williams tried to buy a house for them through the G.I. Bill, he discovered they needed to be married to qualify.

They bought their home in Beaumont, CA, and cherished their 14-year marriage until Yvonne passed away in 2008 from cancer. The loss was felt by all those who knew her, especially Renee Fegan, who worked at Colton as Drama program director from 2005-2009.

Fegan shared how when she had her first two children, Yvonne Williams made blankets for each child. After Yvonne’s passing, Fegan met her husband, Sean, and moved to Ireland where she had her third child. In 2012, after Williams’ retirement, he traveled to Ireland and stayed with the Fegans. When he arrived, he presented a blanket for Fegan’s daughter, sharing that he took the time to learn how to make a blanket just so all of her children would be loved. Her children, now 14, 12 and 10, still have those blankets and cherish them.