Robert Detlef Williams

Robert Detlef Williams passed away peacefully on July 1, 2026 after a difficult battle with MSA. A gentle spirit, with a wry sense of humor, Rob loved music, nature, travel, comedy, friends and family.

Rob was born in Santa Barbara, California on September 19, 1958. In 1971, he and his family moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, giving him an undying love for the outdoors as well as a wandering spirit. Rob left home as a teenager, and ended up in Utah, where he married Susan Field and had two children, Jon and Sara (Jon passed away in 2003). He moved to Seattle then traveled all over the US. He became enamored with the Eastern cultures and visited many of the countries and islands of Asia and the South Pacific.

He ultimately became a Park Ranger working in San Diego and living both in California and Driggs, Idaho (where he grew some of the best garlic around!).

He is survived by his daughter, Sara Groen (nee: Williams) and his grandchildren, James Paris, Henry Jonathan and Stella Genevieve Groen, who gave him his great-granddaughter, Kalilah. He is also survived by his two older brothers, Geoff (his wife Valerie and their four children, Aaron, Evan, Larissa and Garrett) and Chris Williams. He is also survived by his deceased brother Mitch’s children, his niece and nephew, Anna and Waylon.

Initially misdiagnosed, Rob fought his disease valiantly. MSA (Multiple System Atrophy), a Parkinsonian disease, shuts down the body’s functions more rapidly than Parkinson’s. Rob was adamant that no one should go through what he experienced, so he donated his brain to the Mayo Clinic through the Brain Support Network, to further research and help find a cure. Please visit www.brainsupportnetwork.org, to learn about MSA and other Parkinsonian Diseases. And if so moved, donate something in Rob’s name.

We are grateful to friends and family who watched over and cared for Rob. Their goodness and love left him free to leave our world and welcome him into the next.