Meet The Wills Family…

Meet The Wills Family. A family that is surrounded by so much love, so many people that care about them, and an incredible family bond.  There is one thing missing with this family though…Coach Charles “Chuck” Wills, the father and husband of this family.  

In August of 2013, I started my new teaching job at Nichols Junior High.  One of the first people I ever remember meeting was Coach Wills.  He was hard to miss, standing at 6’5″ or close to.  Coach was very soft spoken and I would think most would probably agree. He wasn’t one to ever raise his voice at the students, but he didn’t need to. Those kids knew when he looked at them a certain way, that they needed to get it together and behave.  Being soft spoken, it took awhile for me to get to know him. But once I did, he made me laugh every single day.  We had lunch duty together everyday and he always made me laugh with some funny story or joke.  I looked forward to my dreadful lunch duty just because of him. 

Coach Wills lost his life to cancer on February 7, 2016. It was a shock to us all at the school where we taught and coached together but it was unimaginable to think about what his family was going through. His funeral was like nothing I had ever seen at a funeral.  Being a former football player from TCU, it was organized for everyone to wear purple to his service in his honor. It was amazing to see all the love and participation that people showed.  He was so loved.  There were so many friends, family members, and former teammates that went up to the stage and told such memorable, funny stories about Coach Wills. There was not a dry eye in the place the entire service. 

Up until the time of the funeral, I had not had the opportunity to meet his amazing family.  Soon after though, I became acquainted with his wife, Zabette.  I got to know her and wanted to do something for her and her family to honor her dear late husband who had served our school and community for so many years.  For our Athletic Banquet in the spring of 2016, we honored him with a banner that is now hanging in the gym of Nichols Junior High in Arlington, Texas.  He will be forever remembered to all of us who knew him and who always made us laugh. We miss you Coach! Congrats on this beautiful family that you made.  They are so kind and loving and your son is a spitting image of you.

Love, Jesica “Coach Sands” as you remember me…