Levi Williams, 43, of Burwell passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family and friends on Tuesday, December 19, 2023; at the Valley County Health System Hospital following a courageous battle with cancer.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 27, 2023; at the Burwell High School Gymnasium. Pastor Joel Wentworth will officiate. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, December 26, 2023; from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Burwell Baptist Church.

To honor the request of the family, remembrances can be made through contributions to the Levi Williams Memorial Fund, to be designated at a later time, in lieu of flowers.

Levi started out his life in an exceptional way, as he was the last child born into his family and came so fast his dad had to deliver him at home, on December 28, 1979. His parents, Merlyn and Colene (Vogeler) Williams, along with his 3 siblings lived in North Loup, Nebraska for many years. They were very active in the Seventh Day Baptist Church where they spent their weekends attending services and fellowshipping with their church family (who played a huge role in his life), as well as playing ball, riding horses all over, milking cows, and basically living the fullest, most fun life a young man could live.

Levi's family later moved to Taylor, Nebraska where he was extremely active in sports and an exceptional athlete. A few special accomplishments included Levi being the Defensive MVP of his All-Star football game, scoring 20+ ppg in basketball, and running the 'gauntlet' every track meet. His baseball team, TBS, had an amazing run at State in 1998, as well. Levi graduated from Loup County High School in 1998, with a wonderful group of classmates.

Levi was united in marriage to Amber Thoene on June 1, 2002, at the Burwell Baptist Church. They were blessed with four amazing children and Levi spent many, many hours coaching each one in every sport they did, while also teaching them so many life skills. He was so proud of each one and blessed them with so many of his traits. One of the things he always said was if you can communicate with people, you will be successful, and Levi was a great communicator. Throughout his life, he worked at various jobs: Seedorf Masonry in Lincoln, Ritz's in Arcadia, the Circle A Ranch in Taylor for many years, and then he started running the motor grader for Loup County in 2012, which allowed him time to also coach basketball at Burwell Public Schools. And finally working for Triple T and managing their grower lots…every single job he truly enjoyed and made wonderful friends at each place. That was a special talent Levi had; he could make people feel special because he was a person who truly cared about everyone he met.

Levi and Amber felt it was important to give their kids experiences, so vacations to various places became an important part of every summer, as well as ski trips to CO and SD. Levi also enjoyed helping his dad and father-in-law on their ranches with their cattle and being a part of everything he could with his brothers as well. Levi also enjoyed traveling out of the country with a group of his best friends, and those became some of his treasured memories.

Coach Williams has coached baseball/softball (from t-ball to the USSSA Generals traveling team), basketball (so many youth boys/girls teams, as well as JH and High School), football (flag to youth tackle)…every single team he had was successful because he instilled a sense of passion for the game that was unmatched by anyone. He just was a man that loved what he was doing, whenever he was doing it and had so much fun with the athletes he coached.

He accepted Jesus into his heart as his Lord and Savior while at Camp Riverview Church Camp when he was a young man and has always held steady to his faith. He always put God first, and shared his faith with those he met in life, as well as instilled a strong faith in his family. He was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church and later became a member and served as a Deacon at the Burwell Baptist Church as he always strove to serve those around him.

Levi is survived by his loving wife, Amber; their four children, Jase (Hallee), Nikia, Natalie, and Jordan Williams; his devoted parents, Merlyn and Colene Williams; siblings, Timi (Duke) Glidden, Aaron (Sheila) Williams, and Seth (JoElle) Williams; his nieces and nephews; as well as a special extended family of loving aunts and uncles, cousins, in-laws, foster siblings, and so many amazing friends and athletes he's coached. His legacy will live on in each and every one. We joke, but it's actually a fact that when Levi's around it's the 'Everybody Loves Levi' show, because he really was loved by all.

Levi was welcomed by those that passed before him, his mother-in-law, Judy; his grandparents; Uncles Rich, Mike and Leonard; Aunt Nancy; and cousins, Ryan and Koe.

Levi was a truly amazing husband, father, father-in-law, son, brother, uncle, cousin, coach, mentor, friend, teammate, believer, employee…the list goes on. He was a man that was truly exceptional at everything he did and will be deeply missed by all that knew and loved him.

He was a fierce competitor throughout his life and had a strong will to win. All throughout Levi's cancer battle, he never lost faith or hope. He was like Job, who suffered a great deal, but his faithfulness won out in the end. Love and faithfulness…that was what Levi stood for.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3-4

A Celebration of Life will be held at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 27, 2023; at the Burwell High School Gymnasium. Pastor Joel Wentworth will officiate. A time of fellowship and a meal will be held at the Burwell Baptist Church immediately following the Celebration of Life.

The family will receive friends on Tuesday, December 26, 2023; from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Burwell Baptist Church.

To honor the request of the family, remembrances can be made through contributions to the Levi Williams Memorial Fund, to be designated at a later time, in lieu of flowers.

The service will be live-streamed at: facebook.com/burwellbaptist