Sylvester Williams

Sylvester Gustavus Williams, better known as “Buddy” or “The Ropeman”, aged 82 years, passed peacefully in his Kiowa, KS home surrounded by his loving family on Saturday, March 1st 2025. Buddy was born in Elgin, KS on September 8th, 1942, to Rudolph and Frances Williams in a humble tent while his father was building their family’s cabin.

 Buddy attended a one room schoolhouse which he talked about affectionately, but grew tired of school as he was focused from a very young age on taking care of his family, which set the trend for his entire life. He started learning how to make money in various, colorful ways while he was just a child. He left at the age of twelve to work on a traveling paint crew and informed his mother of that decision after he left. Very quickly after, he ended up working around the race tracks as a valet which led to his 30-year career as a professional horse trainer and jockey. He has thousands of winning photos to prove his success. Though he loved it, this career was life threatening, as he had broken nearly every bone in his body at one point or another and was even pronounced dead after crossing the finish line, winning the race and taking a fall with a horse in Enid, OK. With nine mouths to feed, he decided he needed to come up with a less dangerous way to make money and so began his journey as the Ropeman. In Jay, OK he opened his first rope factory and later opened factories in South Dakota, Canada, and El Dorado, Kansas before eventually landing in Kiowa. He worked tirelessly building the brand, traveling over the road, sleeping in his truck, whatever it took to get the job done. Nobody understood the importance of rolling up their sleeves and getting to work quite like he did. His hard work and dedication culminated in Custom Rope becoming a million-dollar company, which made him especially proud and enabled him to do his very favorite thing in the world… helping people.

 No matter where he was or what he was doing, Buddy was an incredible witness. He shared the loved of Jesus Christ with everyone he knew and anyone who would listen. He stood firm in his belief that you should take care of others before yourself and would have literally given the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it. He didn’t discriminate and would often make a point to help people that nobody else wanted to help and was the king of second, third and fourth chances. It wasn’t unheard of for him to bring a hitchhiker home from a trip to eat a warm meal with his family and grab a good night’s sleep before moving along. He served as chaplain around the racetracks and was an avid witness speaking in churches all around the country, forming a gospel quartet with his family, starting a prison ministry and was currently serving his fifth year as the chaplain of his masonic lodge. He was dedicated to the lodge and had navigated the long journey to have also served as Grand Master. He was passionate about serving in the Midian Shrine, as the Shriners Hospital had treated his son many years before.

In his spare time, his true passion was making little lariats for the kids on his antique rope machines at various county fairs, festivals, state fairs, farm shows, Silver Dollar City and Dollywood. You could always find Buddy by following the crowd which never tired of his magic tricks and whimsical storytelling.

 Buddy was one of six children and was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Marcy Lumley; brother, Earl Wiliams; brother, Durley Williams and sister Joyce Sanborn.

 He is survived by his wife, Donna; sister, Nora Castleman; his children, Justin Williams, Trisha Langlois, Michele Jovanovich, Margaret Grismer, Cameron Williams, Brandon Williams, Landon Williams, Aimee Bryan & Tamara Bogatay and their families, including his 26 grandchildren & 9 great-grandchildren, many many more loving family members, friends, colleagues who were like family…

Honestly, he never did meet a stranger.

His celebration of life will be held at the Kiowa Community Building, 119 S 5th Street, Kiowa, KS on Saturday, March 8th @ 10:00am. There will also be a graveside Masonic Funeral conducted by the Cosmos Masonic Lodge #278 at the Riverview Cemetery following the celebration of life.

If you would like to send flowers, please send those to the Rope Factory in Kiowa, 430 Campbell St or to the Community building on Saturday. Donations can be made to the Plane of Mercy through the Barber County Firewagon Shriners or to the Ropeman Scholarship which Buddy started in order to give back and help young entrepreneurs graduating from the South Barber High School in Kiowa. If he could leave one sentiment for everyone to take away, it would be this…

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re exactly right"

Arrangements are by Lanman Funeral Home, Inc. of Kiowa.