The following was written by Jerry Williamson, Barry's Brother and shared at his Memorial Service January 21st.
This day is obviously a tough day for all of us.
My brother Barry meant a great deal to all of us.
To me personally, we were not just brothers, but we were
great friends.
Especially when we were little guys sharing a bedroom
together.
During our childhood, Barry, Dennis, Christy and I had no
secrets from one another, which meant we knew everything about one another and
I mean everything.
Don't worry Christy and Dennis, I won't tell if you guys
don't tell.
Barry of course was the youngest of the four kids in our
family and we naturally referred to him as the baby of the family.
He hated that phrase baby of the family because all he heard
was he was being called a baby.
Well you know what that meant, Christy, Dennis, and I called
him the baby of the family every time we saw him or at least until our mom made
us stop.
Another thing that Christy, Dennis, and I thought was funny
is we all told Barry that he was adopted and his real name was not even Barry,
it was actually Mike.
This was great fun to Christy, Dennis, and I because Barry
would cry and cry and tell us that he did not want to be Mike because he was
Barry.
Barry would have to seek out our mother to be reaffirmed
that he was honestly a Williamson and a part of our family.
Today, it is simple for me to understand why that teasing we
would do to Barry would send him into a fear and panic like it did.
The reason is so obvious, he loved his family, he had such a
strong love in his heart for his family that he would have done anything to
prevent separation with his loved ones.
That happenened when he was a child, and that quality or
trait became stronger throughout his life.
He so loved his family and would have let nothing change
that.
As Barry and I became adults, we lived in different states,
quite a distance from each other.
Our distance kept me from seeing Barry, Kari and the kids as
often as I wanted to the past few years, but fortunately my mother, Christy and
Dennis stepped in and unselfishly comforted and loved Barry in my absence.
Kari and the kids made it possible for Barry to live in the
comfort of his home instead of the hospital, what a true blessing that was.
I am eternally grateful for everything you all did for
Barry, especially during his last few months.
When I was asked to speak about Barry today and I first
thought can I really do this?
Am I capable of expressing in words the sweet nature and the
natural inner goodness of my brother, Barry?
I can tell you that
It is my honor to be able to speak for our family members about Barry.
This is just a small way of saying thank you Barry for all
you did for me and all you meant to all of us.
If you have watched or followed the National Football League
at all, you have most likely heard of Walter Payton was one of the greatest nfl
running backs of all time.
In fact he was so
good that he was inducted into the hall of fame.
Walter once said
"when you are good at something, you tell everyone, when you are great at
something, they'll tell you".
Walter Payton possessed fantastic skills as a nfl running
back but he is known by most for something totally different other than his
athleticism.
Most people today
know him by his nickname, "sweetness".
He earned this name When He was living because he constantly smiled and he had an
unbelievable heart for others.
Walter always thought of other people before himself.
He was a truly sweet hearted man.
He could have been given many nicknames that described super
skills but he wasn't.
He was named and known by his God given human skills
instead.
Walter Payton and Barry had much in common.
God gave Barry a heart for others.
Barry loved those who he knew and those he did not know.
He always smiled, you can see this in the photos of him. It
was his natural disposition.
To this day, I have never known Barry to be mean to anyone.
I think all of you have to agree, Barry Joe Williamson is
truly the real sweetness!
Of course, I referenced football when thinking of Barry
since our entire family loved being together and cheering on our favorite team,
Dallas Cowboys.
I'm really not sure if wasn't honestly the togetherness that
we actually loved or the game itself.
I am sure of this, even if when we were all together on one
terribly hot hot day well into the 100s, we were all together at Texas Stadium
and witnessed our Cowboys take a whipping from the hated Philadelphia Eagles.
Even as painful as that game was to watch, Barry soon made
the entire huge bunch of us forget the ugly game we saw.
Barry was riding in very back part of a 13 passenger van and
could not stand to see the agony we were going through, so what did he do?
He mooned about 1000 cars behind us on the way back home
Believe, he achieved his goal to change the mood
Many of us to this day, still smile and laugh.
I guess Barry would go to any extreme to us from hurting.
I remember When we
were young guys, I was around 10 and Barry was 8.
I was truly being mean to another kid my age and Barry
stepped in the middle of the situation and he looked me directly in the eyes
pleaded with me to stop and think about how I was making the other boy feel.
I looked into Barry's eyes in that instant his eyes showed
me his heart.
I could honestly see
with no doubt what Barry was feeling and because I was inflicting hurt
and pain on this other boy, it hurt Barry.
That was the first time in my life when I noticed a quality
in Barry that I had never seen in anyone else.
I was fortunate to be able to witness his great quality for
the remainder of his life.
Even when Barry life was near the end, he would never want
his family to know if he was hurting or in pain.
He did not want anyone else to feel badly for him or hurt
for him.
That is Barry, it is who he was.
Barry watched the family spending pretty closely, in fact
those closest to him some days called him frugal.
So you can imagine the surprise to Kari a few weeks ago when
he told her that he did not want a cheap funeral.
Well Barry, this is a grand funeral a true tribute and
celebration to your life, well done Kari.
Believe bracelets.
Many of acquired a bracelet soon after Barry's surgery which
was when he first learned of him having brain cancer.
Many of us have not removed our bracelet since we received
it.
This bracelet is special and has provided with the feeling
of connection to Barry no matter how many miles have separated us.
There are only a few words stamped in these bracelets, which
are BELIEVE for Barry.
They could have chosen anything they wanted to have stamped
in these bracelets and the one power word they chose is BELIEVE.
This word has many meanings during Barry's bout with cancer.
At one time believe meant that Barry would beat cancer and
be restored fully to himself.
Today the word believe means that Barry is is in heaven
singing and dancing probably doing his infamous air guitar to a AC/DC song.
I can picture him performing for our King and I know that
Barry is making him smile just like he did for each one of us while he was here
with us.
At Barrys house on his coffee table is a small book with
quotes and poems.
Lexi thought this captured Barry.
Believe that friendship is priceless and an honor.
If you want trust, trust others.
If you want respect, respect others.
If you want help, help others.
If you want love and peace in your life, give them away.
If you want great friends, be one.
That's how it works.
I am thankful for the special memories Barry has left all of
us and with that, I hope and pray that my brother and the legacy he created
will live forever within our hearts and minds.
On behalf of Barry, Kari and all of our family, we thank
each and every one of you for your prayers, visits, and all of the love and
other acts kindness you have shown us. Your generosity cannot be explained in
words how you have comforted our family.
So here's to you Sweetness, until we meet again.
