Kyle Richardson Williams of Starkville, MS, has passed away, leaving behind a family and community who loved him dearly.
These few paragraphs cannot hold a life, but they may carry a memory.
Quiet kindness echoes longest.
KYLE RICHARDSON WILLIAMS
Kyle, a Starkville native, died at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at UMMC in Jackson, of heart failure. Born on June 3, 1981, Kyle lived his entire life in Starkville, and enjoyed European travel with his family and being on summer vacations in Wisconsin with the family and visiting with northern friends.
The son of Clyde V. and Marsha Terry Williams, he is survived by his older brother Steven (Sara Rudolph) of Decatur, Georgia, and sister Rowan (Marty) Haug, his niece Sophie and his nephew Liam of Starkville and his cousin Thomas Terry of Baton Rouge. He was preceded in death by grandparents, Clyde V Williams and Vivian Richardson Willliams of Carthage, Mississippi, and Thomas Galey Terry and Mona Herman Terry of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; his great aunt Ruth L. Herman and his uncle and aunt, Neill Herman Terry and Vicki L. Terry.
A Starkville High School graduate with horticulture certification from Millsaps Vocational Center, Kyle's adult employment was in MSU's Plant and Soil Sciences greenhouses and as a lab assistant in the Soil Testing Lab. He completed his 20th year at MSU in 2024 and identified himself with MSU and his work there. He was a long-time SHS, Bulldog, Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers fan.
The family would like to thank his colleagues in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department at MSU, who so generously donated leave time to him during his illness, and to express our appreciation to the doctors and nurses in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at UMMC who so skillfully and lovingly cared for him for his last three weeks. Thanks, too, to the devoted staff of doctors, LVAD nurses, and pharmacists at UMMC who became part of his family during his final six and a half years.
A celebration of Kyle's life will be on Saturday, May 9, at the Starkville Community Theatre in downtown Starkville, with visitation from 1-2 p.m., a commemoration at 2 p.m., followed by a reception with family and friends.
In 2013, Kyle established, by bequest, the Kyle R. Williams Endowed Scholarship with the MSU Foundation (P.O. Box 6149, Mississippi State, MS 39762) which will provide scholarships for students in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department and the Department of Art.
