Renee S. "Oma" Tarleton Williams

1927-2023

Renee Juliette Hodges Schondelmaier Tarleton Williams, of Auburn, was born May 3rd, 1927, in Tallahassee, FL to the late Ellis S. Hodges and Renee Juliette Schondelmaier. She passed away at her home in Auburn on July 28th, 2023. She was 96 years old.

Renee was an excellent student – active in all manner of extracurricular activities in ten different service organizations as well as being a member of the Civil Air Patrol. She learned ballet, tap and jazz dancing as a young girl – the love of which she passed to both her daughters and granddaughters.

After graduation from high school in Jacksonville, Florida in 1945 she worked as a secretary and attended St. Mary's Episcopal Church. She met her first husband James W. "Jack" Tarleton, Jr. when he visited St. Mary's while attending Naval Gunnery School at nearby Cecil Field. They were married in December 1945. She continued working in Jacksonville as an executive secretary at both International Harvester and WJXT TV until 1960 when the family moved to Midland, NC.

After Jack's death due to illness in 1964 she kept her family together in her home in Seminole, Florida working as a secretary in both elementary and middle schools near her home in Pinellas County. She met and married William J. "Papa Joe" Williams in 1967.

She retired from the Pinellas County School system in 1980, then she and Papa Joe moved to the NC mountains near Hayesville. There, they lived happily together in their "mountain cabin" until Papa Joe's passing in 1989. Afterwards, she kept busy volunteering – both as a day care "sitter" in a local church and delivering "meals on wheels" in her Volvo station wagon to shut-ins. She remained in NC after Joe's death until moving to Auburn in 2008 to be closer to her daughters.

Renee was a lifelong member of the Episcopal and later, Anglican church with an unshakable belief in God, commitment to Christian principles and helping others – volunteering for and involved in numerous church activities. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who focused her life on her family first. She was passionate about her family, her love of God, her church, and her abiding love for all creatures "great and small".

"Oma Renee" was preceded in death by her husbands, James W. Tarleton Jr. (d:1966) and William J. Williams (d:1989); and brothers Charles J. Schondelmaier, Jr. and Arthur S. Hodges.

She is survived by her children James W. Tarleton III (Carol), Charles R. Tarleton (Robin), Nancy R. Polhemus (Paul), Kimberly T. Dwyer (Jerry), and William J. Williams Jr. (Joy); six grandchildren; Amy (Dave), Richard, Molly (Adam) and Madison, William J. III (Allison), Daniel (Carrie); and four great-grandchildren – Sarah Ryan, Wallace, Francesca and Milena.

A memorial service for family and friends will be held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Opelika on 12 August 2023 at 11:00AM. Donations honoring "Oma" Renee may be made to Tunnel to Towers or Samaritan's Purse.

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