CW3 William Howard Colbert

William Howard Colbert was born in Brooksville, FL on December 1, 1944. He was nicknamed “Bill” by his grandfather, as he said bills always come at the first of the month.

His family later moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida where his spent his young life exploring the nearby river, playing sandlot ball and just being a boy. He attended school there until the 10th grade when his parents moved to New Port Richey. There he was a multi-sport athlete, but especially excelled in baseball and football.

He was baptized very early in life, as his whole family was very involved in the Baptist church. It was at a new mission church that he and his wife first saw each other. She was 12 and he was 15. It was love at first sight and they were always together. He asked her to marry him the night of her Junior prom and that summer he went off to join the Air Force. They married as soon as she graduated and he had finished his Air Force training.

He spent 10 years in the Air Force rising to the rank of Staff Sargent, spending tours in Massachusetts, Arizona, Oklahoma, Turkey three times and Korea. Their first son was born in Ankara, Turkey, William Todd. It was his last tour in Turkey that he was encouraged by an old Air Force friend to join the Army and become a Warrant Officer. They were looking at the time for technical people. He did join and the family moved to Stuttgart, Germany to begin this new phase of his military career.

He spent almost three years in Germany, but had to return to the states on a compassionate reassignment. They were moved to Augusta and he was stationed at Signal Towers at Fort Gordon. It was in this year that a big change was going to come. The same person who encouraged him to become a Warrant Officer was now working at the White House as part of the White House Communications Agency. He encouraged Bill to apply. When he told the interviewer that he would like to go home and talk with his wife about making this move the man looked at him and said “Young man, you don’t understand…you have been chosen and you are coming.” It was at Ft. Belvoir Virginia that his second son was born, William Andrew. (Best known in Augusta as Andy from Outdoor Augusta.)

Bill spent the first six months learning while President Jimmy Carter was still president and then served the entire four years of Ronald Reagan’s first term as President. His job was to get his team to set up secure communications wherever the President was going. He did many trips, sometimes to the California ranch, sometimes to rally sites in the states, but also to Windsor Castle, China, Ireland and Brazil. He was even on duty in Augusta the day President Reagan was at risk when the man plowed his vehicle through the Master’s gates.

With only one year left in the military Bill requested a move back to Ft. Gordon. He had promised his son Todd that when he entered high school, he was going to be in that school for the full four years….no more moving around. Todd graduated from Evans High School. Bill also continued his education and in 1989 finished his Bachelor of Business Administration at what was then Augusta College.

After his discharge from the Army, Bill worked contract work at Fort Gordon for about a year before applying to University Hospital to work in their communications department. At first, he did not think he had been accepted in the position. A couple of months later a secretary called asking if he was still interested. He said yes, but why has it taken so long? She said, “God told me to save your application.” He was being accepted as an applicant, not for that position, but for the position of the man who would have been over him. So, he became the new Director of Communications. He held that position for several years and then was promoted to an executive position as Chief Information Officer. One of his most challenging tasks came when he traveled to many big hospitals around the nation to find a computer driven medical charting program. He found Epic MyChart and went before the board asking them to commit to bring it to the hospital.

Bill had a lot of interests. He loved photography, especially capturing scenes in nature. One of the great passions of his life was fishing. However, if a bald eagle ever appeared over the lake fishing took a back seat to the camera that was always at hand. He loved to kayak on the rivers and to play his guitar, mountain dulcimer and thump bucket in local music groups. His greatest love and passion was teaching the Bible and discipling others to be followers of Christ. Later in his life he started going in to prisons and sharing on Tuesday nights. Nothing made him happier than to bring the good news to those who were bound in prison. He was even instrumental in starting a library in one, gathering from donors over 5,000 books. He loved the Lord and read the Bible through every year faithfully.

His other passion was in sharing the history of the Revolutionary War with others, doing so at schools, at Meadow Garden during special events and helping with patriot grave markings. He had a full militia outfit and often did events with the Georgia SAR Militia. He was a past President of the William Few Chapter and was the current Chaplain for the Little River Chapter. He had a total of five direct ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War.

The family is deeply thankful to all the doctors and medical staff at Piedmont Heart Tower and Clinic that helped him have 3 ½ more years with his family. Their care and loving touch made his battle with heart disease a little easier and gave him the opportunity to see his grandson Eli get married and see his other grandson Miller grow into the precocious and precious boy that he is. While Bill knew where his ultimate home was, he cherished the extra time that he was blessed to spend with his wife of 59 years and his children and grandchildren.

He leaves behind to cherish his memory his beloved wife, Patricia; his sons William Todd Colbert (Randa) and William Andrew Colbert (Amy); and his grandchildren Ryan, Eli (Carrie), Ella, Meredith, and Miller. 

A Celebration of Life will be held at New Hope Worship Center on Friday evening, June 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM. The family will recieve friends for two hours prior to the service from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.