Dr. Tom “Big Doc” Williamson has been supporting the Cullman community since moving here nearly 50 years ago.

Editor’s Note This article first appeared in the 2019 Spring Cullman Magazine.

When Tom Williamson moved to Cullman nearly 50 years ago, he knew quickly he had found his new home.

Williamson, affectionately known as “Big Doc” to many in the community, first came to Cullman to work with Dr. Tommy Little as part of his last three months of veterinary school at Auburn University. 

“It wasn’t three weeks until there was never a doubt,” Williamson fondly remembers. “That’s how quick the people in Cullman get in your blood. Them loving you and making you feel like such a part of the community.”

By the time he left Auburn, there was no question about where life would take him.

“Here I am 48 years later, still in Cullman, and this is home,” he said. “It’s the greatest place in the world to live.”

Williamson was born in Sturgis, Mississippi, where his mother was a teacher and his father owned a country store. It was his dad who first gave him the idea of becoming a veterinarian when he was around 10 years old. 

A vet came to Sturgis a few times a week to inspect cows being sold, and Williamson said he enjoyed helping him a few times – deciding veterinarian medicine would be his career path. 

“That’s the only thing I ever wanted to do, and it’s just because that’s what Daddy said I ought to do,” he said.

He also credits his parents with instilling his love for helping the community. He said his mother was always involved in the community and his father helped people through his store, providing an example for him to follow.

“You just kind of grow up seeing by example that it’s not just about you,” he said. “That everybody could use a hand now and then.”

After settling in Cullman, he got involved in the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association and began helping with county programs focusing on assisting local farmers.

He has also been involved with — and held leadership positions — in the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce, the Cullman Rotary Club and the Cullman Farm-City Committee.

“Cullman’s an incredibly wonderful place for people to get together and work for the common good,” he said. “The Lord puts us here to be mentors, and I’ve tried to do that because so many people have been incredibly good to me.”

Williamson said he is particularly proud to have helped in the creation of the North Alabama Agriplex, where he is a member of the Agriplex Foundation, and the Agriplex’s Heritage Center was named in his honor.

Whether working at the Agriplex or at other volunteer efforts, Williamson notes they all have a common goal: to promote agriculture that farmers do to provide for everyone.

“Every year, there’s fewer and fewer people that know about agriculture and where our food comes from,” he said.

“All those folks want to tell our kids how important agriculture is and how we can’t sustain if there aren’t people going into it.”

Williamson’s veterinarian career also introduced him to his wife, Judy, who he first met her while taking care of horses she owned.

“She is my best friend,” Williamson said. “She’s an incredible lady who takes awfully good care of me.”

He and Judy have two children, Jeb, who still lives in Cullman, and, Julie, who lives in Birmingham. The children each have a son and daughter of their own.

“I am so proud of both of them,” he said. “Both of them are superstars to me.”

Williamson said both children worked in the vet clinic growing up, and he tells Julie her work cleaning cages and taking care of animals has carried over into her work taking care of people as nurse practitioner at UAB Hospital.

Jeb, however, decided early on that being a veterinarian was not his calling, and he works as a certified public accountant.

“Obviously with Jeb, I had him clean one too many cages,” he said with a laugh.

Despite a great career, anchored by family and volunteering in his beloved community, Williamson said he’s not planning to stop any time soon.

“Until Gabriel comes and gets me, I want to continue to be involved and give back what I can because of how much I’ve been blessed,” he said.

Today, Williamson’s veterinarian work continues and he still can be found two days a week at Cullman Veterinary Hospital. He is also enjoys seeing the grandchildren of clients whose animals he cared for early in his career.

“To see folks that you’ve known for 50 years, and being able to keep up with families and share the joy and share the tears when there’s bad times, it’s like a fairy tale,” he said.

“You couldn’t write it any better than my life has been.”