STAN A. WILLIAMS

Went to UT for a couple of years on a petroleum engineering (yech ....) scholarship, (Longhorn Band National Championship year, woooooohoooooo Hook Em !! ) Served in the Army in 1971, (actually joined with a safe draft number) short career due to pneumonia, ( I actually died for about two minutes and was brought back ) then U of H for about ten more years (computer science major) while working (banking, photographic retail mgmnt). Opened my own camera store at Wilcrest & I-10 in 1984 (Photo World), became a camera rep for Olympus in 1985 to 88 then moved to Austin after divorce. I was a staff photographer (for sixteen years) for Texas Highways Magazine and the Texas State Travel Guide.
I play guitar and write songs, played tenor sax with the Main Street American Swing Band, a sixteen piece big band in the Glen Miller style, write poetry, four novels (fiction) in progress; played soprano, alto and tenor sax with the Austin Symphonic Band for six years. One album recorded under band name "Gettin' On Track" titled "Get On the Jesus Train" aimed at getting youth off the street and interested in church activities. Member of Austin Songwriters' Group and Texas Writers' Guild, Professional Photographers of America. Update 2020: now play tenor sax with Hot Springs AR Concert Band and with Blues/Rock band called Carte Blanche as well as vocals and guitar.
Became a Master Mason in 1995; 32nd degree Scottish Rite.
Travels include Cancun, Chichinitza, Tulum, Xelha, Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa, all the border towns of Mexico (yes, my parents were right ... I was more likely to use Spanish than French or German ...) and a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon. Next planned trip ..... an Alaskan cruise and inland exploration.
Update 11/23/2013 - Been out of touch with everybody for a few years (Except I've seen Donna Tomlin at a couple of our concerts). I was in a bad car wreck 10/2010, sitting at a red light on Hwy 71 coming home from work when a guy running from the DPS slammed me from behind at about 75mph; shattered my left ankle and did substantial damage to my neck and back. I'll be having major back surgery 12/31 to replace and fuse two more discs in my back and hopefully be in much less pain by march or so; the ankle has to wait until my 70's as it's only good for about fifteen years and they can't do it again without rejection, so I'll limp with a cane instead. The wreck forced me into retirement, so maybe I'll have time to make more events.
Update, four back surgeries after car wreck, one on left knee, one left ankle. 4/19 moved to Hot Springs Village, AR, where I now play tenor sax with Hot Springs Concert Band and play sax, guitar and sing with rock/blues band Carte Blanche. Bettie is now in a wheelchair and I am her full time caregiver. I will be doing some rockhounding and quartz crystal hunting, have a recording studio and two part border collie dogs to keep me busy. Just bought a thirty year old Cadillac Eldorado to tinker with when not driving my pickup. Ciao.
01/24 update - Bettie died 02/21, step-kids disowned me, reminding me I was only their STEP-father (for 30 yrs) not their REAL family. C'est La vie. Had to rehome my dogs when Bettie’s disease got too tough to handle. Had a gf for fifteen months, turned out to be Satan’s sister. So I am alone in the world, family all deceased. I’ve been making wine for a few years now, have produced a couple that I think would be medal contenders. One of my songs had a top ten finish in the International Singer Songwriters Association contest summer of ‘22. I found out after I retired that a story for Texas Highways that I photographed won a bronze award for photography from the International Regional Magazine Association and that the last story I shot, Bastrop State Park, my photo was chosen as the wrap cover (front and back) for that issue. It’s the little things.

I guess the highlights for me were : junior year - bowling league at Champion Lanes, bowled high game 267, high series, 1st place team, etc. whole bunch of trophies and patches; Team composed of myself, David "The Cloud" Thomas, Mike "Rollerball" Robberson and Bill "De Man" DeJong. Senior year - UIL Marching Band competition at Memorial Stadium in Austin won #1 4a band in the state; National Honor Society. Then Longhorn Band at UT and National Championship football team my freshman year (got to shake hands with President Nixon, who knew then that his most famous quote would be ...."I am not a crook ...").
Took Marilyn Mace (Wranglerette from Westchester) to the Junior Prom; couldn't find a date to the senior prom, got turned down about twelve times, crawled in a hole and didn't come out til summer.
Found out many years later that some people thought I was "stuck up" .....whoa ....couldn't be more wrong, just suffered from extremely low self-esteem and was incredibly shy ...both probably due to an abusive father and volatile home life.
Made it to Life Scout before band demanded too much time to continue and I had to choose ... glad I chose music ... it is the driving force in my life that holds me together in rough times.
Graduated with honors and a perfect attendance certificate ....I don't remember not being there, so I guess I was .....