Willie Alphonso Priester was born on June 24, 1929 in Plant City Florida to Alice Davis and Howard Priester. He was raised by his paternal grandmother Carrie Priester. In 1949 Alice and her husband Sidney relocated to Savannah, GA and Willie went along. Sidney taught Willie the fine art of brick masonry. It would become his craft and his legacy. He worked on several university buildings in Georgia. Many students would come by and watch.

Willie moved north to Brooklyn with his wife Catherine and their young family. He became a member of the Bricklayer's Union Local 1.
In 1975 a union official discovered that Willie has been working as a mason since he was a 20 year old. He had the union change his status as a member back to 1949. That was quite impressive owing to the climate of the country at that time.

Willie and Wilhelmina ("Jeff" as he called her) have been together for over 40 years. They truly enjoyed each other's company. They travelled extensively together. They visited Italy, Egypt, Paris, Mexico and many U.S. states-just to name a few. They enjoyed eating out (especially seafood), playing solitaire and Mahjong on their laptops-side by side. They retired and moved to Bamberg, SC.

Willie enjoyed gardening, remodeling, and just being creative. All those lovely souls in heaven will need to prepare-Mr. Willie is quite the handful.

Willie leaves to cherish his legacy, his wife and best friend, Wilhelmina; his daughters, Sharon, Rochester, NY, Cathy (deceased), Janice, Rochester, NY, Colleen (Ernst), St. Petersburg, FL, Valerie, Brooklyn, NY, and Michelle (Lamar), Columbus, OH; his sister, Joanne Sinclair, Rochester, NY; his step-children, Shelton Jefferson Jr., New York, Gwendolyn (Eugene) Spencer, Knightdale, NC, Sonia Taylor, Elgin, SC, Shileen Jefferson, Brooklyn, NY and Sherrod (Demetricus) Jefferson, Chantilly, VA.

He also leaves many grandchildren, great-grands, great-great grands as well as friends and many admirers near and far.