Astonishing story inspires local company to support veterans

BLASDELL, N.Y. (WIVB) — Every year, a decking company, Decked Out WNY, provides a free deck to a veteran in need in their annual Veterans Deck Giveaway initiative.

This year’s winner was announced Monday: Marine Col. David Brenon will get a deck built at his house in the spring.

The owner of the company, Pat Williams, has never served, but is fueled to give back because of an astonishing story involving his uncle named Tim and Tim’s former Navy helmet.

“It sat in a glass case on his credenza in the living room,” Pat said.

Uncle Tim, the brother of Pat’s mom, was the youngest of nine siblings.

“His call sign was Nixon, because he looked like a young Richard Nixon,” Pat said. “He loved the high-speed, high adrenaline lifestyle. He had the coolest car — an old ’67 Cougar. He seemed like the uncle I would’ve, in my 20s, looked up to the most.”

Tim followed his father’s footsteps, a WWII veteran, into the military.

“He graduated top 10 in his class in the Navy Pilot class,” Pat said.

He chose to fly helicopters, but in 1990, the unimaginable happened for Pat’s family.

“They were exercising for the Gulf War off the coast of Oregon when they had a mechanical failure in the helicopter,” Pat said. “On their way back to emergency land on one of the carrier ships they crashed in the ocean and none of the three bodies of the pilots were recovered.”

Pat was under three years old at the time.

“I remember the day that my mom got the phone call and hearing her voice,” he said. “Having eight siblings who loved you in that family, it reached across the entire span of those brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, along with grandma, who it hit the hardest. That was the baby of her family. Timmy was her baby boy.”

Soon afterward, Pat’s grandmother passed away as well.

“She was soon diagnosed with colon cancer,” Pat said. “Pretty much it was the heartbreak that killed her, not the cancer.”

Before her death, Pat’s family begged her to send them a sign, something that told them she was reunited with their beloved Tim.

“It’s almost too crazy for coincidence,” he said.

That sign came in a big way, about 700 miles south of the crash site, off the coast of California.

“A fisherman was fishing off the coast and on my uncle’s birthday, pulled up his helmet in the fishing net,” Pat said. “And my grandmother’s name was Mary and part of the boat had the name Mary on it.”

The helmet, a bit battered from a couple years of saltwater erosion, and with a few possible shark bites, became the family’s relic of remembrance. It also forever serves as a symbol of a love between a mother and son.

“It was closure,” Pat said. “It was an answer. They asked for a sign, and that sign was given. I never got to know him, but I’ll always remember him, and don’t forget him.”

It might seem fiction, the legend of Nixon, but, Pat said it will forever propel him to want to help veterans in need.

To read more of News 4’s Veterans Voices coverage, click here.

Latest Local News

Defense argues Tops mass shooter should be exempt from death penalty

Call 4 Action helps get reimbursement for Cattaraugus County man after lawnmower fire

United Steel Workers says Sumitomo rejected plan to keep plant open

Lockport man admits to distributing child pornography

Sweet Home returns to glory in Class A

Kelsey Anderson is an award-winning anchor who came back home to Buffalo in 2018. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.