Remembering FBI Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams

Part 4 of a series: Who were the men killed at Pine Ridge?

Who were the two FBI special agents that Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing?

While Peltier’s name has been prominent in news reports, court hearings and requests for his release from prison by powerful people and celebrities, what about the two men who died on June 26, 1975?

Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams were both California natives and relatively new to the FBI when they died. Coler, a former Los Angeles police officer, became a special agent in 1971. He reported to the Denver Field Office in 1972. He was 28 when he was shot and killed in western South Dakota.

Williams was appointed a special agent in 1972. He was transferred to the Minneapolis Field Office in 1973. Williams was 27 when he died.

According to an FBI page devoted to the case, they were attempting to serve arrest warrants on a man named Jimmy Eagle for robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon on the Oglala Indian Reservation when they were killed at Pine Ridge.

Williams was born in July 1947 in Glendale, Calif. He attended Glendale College and California State College at Los Angeles before joining the FBI.

Coler was born in January 1947 in Bakersfield, California. He graduated from California State College at Long Beach with a degree in police science.

This is an ad about the murders of the two agents that was placed by The Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association in both the Washington Post and Indian Country Today. The Indian Country Today ad ran in the Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1994 issue.

A video produced for the Society of Former Agents of the FBI and narrated by Al Scudieri offers more about the two slain officers. It contains comments from coworkers, friends and family.

Coler was recalled as a very “loyal” and dedicated man who was proud to have been a police officer and an FBI agent.

“He just loved the bureau,” one man said.

Coler was an upbeat, pleasant person who never had negative things to say about others, according to one person who speaks in the video. The speakers are not identified.

Coler was the oldest of four siblings. He was named for his father, and was much like him in both appearance and personality.

Susan Greg, the youngest sister, said her older brother was quiet and observant, but “a real jokester” who would tease his sisters. But Greg and her surviving brother Steven Coler remember family trips to Yosemite National Park, with all six family members packed in a car enjoying time together.

“It was great, it was great,” she said. “I’ll never forget Yosemite.”

They said Coler “loved every aspect” of being in the FBI, and his family was very proud of him.

Former FBI Special Agent Jim Huggins met Coler in 1971 and soon became close friends. Huggins said he was exceptional at all aspects of the job, very physically fit and a crack shot.

“He was one of the best agents I’d ever worked with,” he said.

Coler was quiet and reserved when you first met him, Huggins said, but to friends he revealed a lively sense of humor.

Former Special Agent William “Bill” Hayden Maidens, said he also was a former law enforcement officer, so that helped forge a bond with Coler.

“If you needed a good guy for an arrest or just to have a beer with and talk about your family life, he was the right guy,” he said, his voice breaking. “He cared about people. He was always there to support you and never made a big deal of it. That’s the kind of guy Jack was.”

Coler was devoted to his wife and children, friends said. The video includes several photos of him with his wife and two sons.

“His family was everything to him,” a woman says.

But, she noted, he didn’t have enough time with them.

‘A great guy’

Former Special Agent Art Turner was assigned to the Rapid City field office in 1973, and offered fond memories of Williams.

“Ron was a great guy, and I can honestly say I didn’t know anybody in Rapid City that he did not get along with really well, or anybody that did not have a lot of respect for him,” Turner said. “He had a real good understanding of people and what made them tick. He had very good instincts.”

Williams was a very happy person who usually wore a smile, his friends recalled. A person speaking in the video said the only time he had seen Williams without a smile was in his official FBI photo, which now is displayed at the FBI Wall of Honor in its Washington, D.C., headquarters and at all 56 field offices.

“He was very charming, that’s for sure. A very good-looking guy,” one man recalled. “To me, he looked like an FBI agent. He just fit the part.”

“He was the type of person to pick you up if you had a down day,” one person remembered.

Williams was a handsome, charming man, friends recall. June Williams Turner said women were drawn to him “like a moth to a flame” and they enjoyed just looking at him.

“He was just gorgeous, he really was,” she said.

Art Turner said Williams was single and had many girlfriends. Several women claimed they were engaged to him at the same time, he said.

Dan Williams, Ron Williams’ first cousin, said they spent a lot of time together growing up and were very close. His wife Sharon Williams said she met “Ronny” in 1965, and he greeted her with a broad smile and a hug and made her feel at ease.

Dan Williams said Ron’s parents were very caring and sweet and passed those attributes along to their son.

Dave Williams, a fellow FBI agent who entered the bureau with Ron Williams after training with him, said Ron Williams, who was not related to him, was the epitome of West Coast casual. His nickname was “California” because of his laid-back demeanor.

FBI Special Agent Pat Johnson also met Ron Williams during FBI training.

“Ron Williams was the nicest guy in the class,” Johnson recalled. “He was respected because he was simply nice to everybody.”

Johnson said they both were pilots, but Williams was a much more skilled aviator. They took Johnson’s wife up for a ride during a July 4 weekend in Washington, D.C., and she recalled it as a thrilling, and somewhat scary trip, but looks back at that time of their lives fondly.

“It was an exciting time,” she said.

The tone of the video changes when June 26, 1975, was remembered. The music becomes more somber, as do the reflections.

Coler had planned a fishing trip to Wyoming for a break. But instead, his brief life ended in a hail of gunfire.

“He was a damned good one, so focused and dedicated,” a friend recalled. “He went into a situation that he could have never expected and he made the very best of it and he gave his life.”

A voice, apparently Coler’s wife, said when his hotel room was cleared out, a birthday card he had purchased for her and signed, but not mailed, was sent to her. It meant a lot to realize he was thinking of her even in the midst of such a dangerous assignment, she said.

She still had the card, she said.

The death of Williams was “quite a loss,” a friend said.

A woman said he deserved to have a family, a wife, children and grandchildren. He was very close to his mother, Ellen Williams. Williams’ mother attended numerous memorials to honor her son and other agents.

“The FBI is her family,” a friend said.

Friends said while he has been gone for decades, he has not been forgotten.

“I just want to say, I think of him every day,” a friend said in the video. “If he can hear me, I think of Ronnie every day. Ron, if you can hear me, I love you, buddy.”

Next week part 5 and final: After nearly half a century, he longs for freedom.

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