Sam Williams is speaking out about the loss of his mother, Mary Jane Thomas, who passed away on Tuesday, March 22. Williams is the son of Thomas and Hank Williams, Jr.

“My dear Mama Mary Jane was a beautiful soul who forever affected everyone who knew her,” Williams says in a statement (via People). “She had a smile and presence that lit up every room and she never met a stranger she didn’t befriend. Her spirit was gentle and giving. She could take down a ten-point buck and fix dinner for her grandchildren at the same time! Now she gets to radiate from above with my sister Katherine Diana right by her side,” he said, referring to Katherine Williams-Dunning, who was killed in a car accident in 2020.

“She grew up competing in baton and cheerleading and was one of Hawaiian Tropic’s top models,” he continues. “My father fell in love with the Daytona Beach beauty the minute he set eyes on her in the early ’80s. They went on to live the most powerful love story of travel and hunting and raising a family. She is survived by my father, her two parents Ramona and Bill, her brother Andy, her sister Angela, myself and her three grandchildren: Beau Weston, Tennyson Hiram and Audrey Jane. Rest in peace Mama, I will always be the son of Mary Jane.”

Williams released his album, Glasshouse Children, last August.

“This album was definitely created over the past three or four years, with that timeline being jumbled, and lots of setbacks in between in my personal life,” Williams tells Everything Nash. “And also, just this life, and everything going on around us; the whole time, I wasn’t sure I was setting out to make an album. I was just doing my best of, ‘What is my best next foot forward? What is the next right thing to do?’ It just so happens that it came together in a beautiful way.”

Williams admitted he was still struggling with the loss of his sister, and the impact it had on him and his family.

“I definitely broke and went through a really, really, really hard time,” he told People following his sister’s passing. “I’m still climbing out of it. But it’s the ‘still climbing’ part that is the most important. That’ll just always be a big part of my story. I hope that [when I do write about it], that can be inspiring to other people, too.”

Funeral services have yet to be announced. Everything Nash extends our deepest condolences to Williams and his family.