Eric John Williams was a dedicated father of four and innovative pastor in Garden Grove, with a penchant for specialty coffee and a talent for connecting deeply with others, his friends say.
Williams was killed while he was cycling along the shoulder of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach on Oct. 20. He was 45.
He had just celebrated 20 years of marriage with his wife, Robyn, whom he met at a church event after he moved from Pennsylvania to California.
Williams founded the Community Church of West Garden Grove and had previously worked as a youth and teaching pastor at Seaside Community Church in Huntington Beach. In his pastoral work, his friends said, Williams strove for innovation and fostering deep connections with his congregation, having worship in different homes in the community some weeks and prioritizing helping others.
Eric John Williams was a pastor in Garden Grove, father of four and passionate cyclist. (Photo Courtesy of the Williams Family)
Eric John Williams was a pastor in Garden Grove, father of four and passionate cyclist. (Photo Courtesy of the Williams Family)
Eric John Williams was a pastor in Garden Grove, father of four and passionate cyclist. (Photo Courtesy of the Williams Family)
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Eric John Williams was a pastor in Garden Grove, father of four and passionate cyclist. (Photo Courtesy of the Williams Family)
Williams also held a passion for cycling, those who knew him said, with a competitive streak when he raced. He played a role in starting the Over The Hump Mountain Bike Race series, held in Irvine Lake each summer, said two brothers who were his close friends, Sam and Robby Knutsen.
“I think in his life as a pastor, he tried to think about things of what could we do differently as a church that’s just not your normal: wake up on Sunday, go to church, and then go home and, you know, seven days later do it all over again,” said Josh Coy, Williams’ brother-in-law.
One such way was through “Sunday serve days,” which he would lead whenever a month had a fifth Sunday. On those serve days, Williams would bring congregants out into the community, perhaps singing carols or working with crafts at a senior living home, helping a community member in need with housework, or cleaning a beach.
Coy met Williams nearly two decades ago, when he met his now-wife, Rachelle, Robyn’s sister.
“Just our deep conversations that we would have ranging from all sorts of topics to just messing around with our mother-in-law,” Coy said. “… he treated my kids like his own.”
Coy fondly recalls double dates with their wives, dinners with all of their in-laws, Williams wrestling with his sons, his skills with his hands and “tinkering” around and his dedication to fatherhood.
“He taught me a lot about being a father,” Coy said.
Williams’ job as a pastor allowed him to spend a lot of time with his children, Julia, Jeanette, Alice and James. The kids range from 3 years old to high school age.
“It’s impossible to think of Eric and not think of his love for his family,” Sam Knutsen said.
He added, “He was very, very skilled at remembering things about people and when you would see him next, he would check in about something, whatever that happened to be. If you shared something, he would remember it and follow up with you. And so his love for people and his care for people really stood out.”
Sam and Robby Knutsen met Williams shortly after he moved to California from Pennsylvania to attend Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, becoming a part of his “California family.”
“Eric had a unique gift for connecting and uniting people,” Robby Knutsen said. “When I think of Eric, he was just the most intentional man that I know.”
Robby, who is seven years younger than Williams, looked to him as a cherished friend. Williams was his youth group leader when he was younger and they later served in ministry roles alongside one another.
“He was that person that I kind of latched onto as somebody to point me in the right direction, help me make the right decisions. And so he definitely was a mentor and had a tremendous impact on my life at a young age,” Robby Knutsen said.
Sam Knutsen, who is also a pastor, admired William’s true curiosity about each person he encountered, an inspiring trait in his pastoral work.
“It’s a skill that is not always the easiest skill, but he was really, really great about being curious and taking the opportunity to learn from people, no matter what the topic or the situation, or the relationship, or young or old, whatever it was, there was just a willingness to be curious and to sit and learn from someone,” Sam Knutsen said. “And I think that was a great gift that he had.”
Sam recalled taking trips with Williams where adventure naturally followed them, going on strenuous bike rides that Williams would make look effortless and leading a junior high ministry with Williams, taking the kids whitewater rafting.
“He always had a wide array of friends from different worlds, the cycling world, the coffee world, his church community, people that he just lived nearby and people he went to school with. It didn’t matter. He had a broad group of people from all over the spectrum,” Sam Knutsen said.
Williams was also a specialty coffee aficionado, involved in high-end coffee trade shows and barista competitions, and always willing to share his expertise.
Amber Kristine Calderon, 43, the suspected driver in the hit-and-run that killed Williams and injured two other cyclists, was charged with three felonies, a count of hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury and two counts of failing to stop at a hit-and-run collision with injury or death.
“Human life is precious, and an early morning bike ride with friends turned into what can only be described as a heartbreaking tragedy,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “We are working closely with our law enforcement partners to ensure justice is carried out to the fullest extent of the law for Mr. Williams and his loved ones and for the two other bicyclists who survived such a horrific ordeal on what should have been a peaceful ride along the beach.”
A vigil honoring Williams’ life was to be held on Friday evening, Oct. 24, at Eastgate Park in Garden Grove.
A GoFundMe has been created to support Williams’ wife and children.
1 bicyclist killed, 2 injured when car hits them in Huntington Beach; Long Beach driver arrested
Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 6:15 PM PDT