When Jo and Darryl Williams took their honeymoon to Yellowstone National Park, Jo couldn't believe the joke her husband played on her.

Dressed in a Hawaiian print shirt and a camera around his neck, Darryl jumped onto a bus full of Japanese tourists and started shouting, "Suzuki! Kawasaki!"

Jo still laughs when she thinks about Darryl on the bus, but she also remembers how she felt at the time.

"It was so embarrassing," she said.

Darryl Wayne Williams, 61, died of a stroke on Aug. 21, 2008 at Wyoming Medical Center.

What his family remembers most about Darryl was his love for making others laugh. Whether it was dressing up as a flasher for Halloween or playing a prank on someone, Darryl knew how to put a smile on everyone's face.

"He was a prankster, and that's for sure," said his sister, Theresa Combs.

Perhaps the only thing Darryl loved more than a good joke was going fast.

Darryl's niece, Stephanie Weckwerth, remembered going for a drive with her uncle after she purchased a new sports car. Darryl was having a ball testing the limits of the car's speed and wondering if the car's top would go down while driving at 70 miles per hour. Stephanie was scrambling to tighten on her seatbelt.

Theresa and Jo laughed as Stephanie recounted the story. It was just like Darryl to look at a speedometer and wonder if a car could actually go that fast, Theresa said.

"If it said on there it was going to do 120 miles per hour, then he has to make sure it would do a 120," Theresa said. "He should have been a NASCAR driver or a drag racer."

Darryl was also a motorcycle enthusiast and an animal lover, Jo added. Even though Darryl sold all his motorcycles before his death, he kept his license just in case he felt the need to ride again, Jo said.

Stephanie remembered Darryl's excitement when she purchased a Harley Davidson motorcycle not long ago. He would come over to visit and just sit on the motorcycle, she said with a smile.

Darryl also spent hours volunteering at Central Wyoming Kennels, and his family encouraged everyone to make memorials in his name to the Casper Humane Society.

"Animals loved him," Theresa said.

"He was Dr. Dolittle," Jo added.

Darryl combined his love of dogs and volunteering by becoming a regular visitor to nursing homes with animals in tow. He spent so much time visiting with the patients that each death took a toll on him, Jo said.

"That was a hard one on him," Jo said. "He kept losing patients, so he finally had to quit."

At times, Darryl could be stubborn and ornery, Jo said. She couldn't win an argument with him, no matter how hard she tried.

"After 23 years, I never did learn to quit arguing with him," she said with a laugh.

But Darryl's loyalty, fun-loving personality and compassion balanced out his stubborn streak and made him popular with even the meanest of folks, Theresa said.

"He was friends with everybody," Theresa said.

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.