Rick W Williams

Rick was born in Austin, coming from a long line of native Texans who first come to the state in 1826 from Potosi, Missouri to settle in the Bastrop region. He grew up living in several towns, from as far north as Amarillo, to as far south as Houston. Rick graduated from Austin Regan High School and in later years from St. Edwards University. An 11-year veteran of the US military, serving first with the Army's Green Berets during the Vietnam era then with the Texas Army National Guard at Camp Mabry, Austin. During that same period, Rick was a kidney donor for his younger sister Jeanne who a short time later died of kidney illness complications. After college, he worked in administration at Brackenridge Hospital, later leaving Austin to become the founding CEO of Community Hospices of America, a national hospice company headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. After 25 years in the hospice industry, Rick sold his company and founded the SafeSpace Company, where he works with his daughter Carley, manufacturing and distributing disinfecting products nationally. These days his life is split between his home in Springfield, and the home he maintains in Austin, where he maintains close connections with his extended family and old friends and fishing buddies. His Springfield time is spent working at his company and being an inventor/maker (holds four US patents), family story-teller, author and proud "Paw-paw" to his granddaughter Savannah Jeanne.