Mark Williams made one request at the funeral of his mum Von on Tuesday.

“Mark asks that in honour of Mum you find someone you love today and you ring them or you visit them as we miss them the moment they’re not there,” Jenny Williams, Von's oldest child, told the crowd of more than 900 at the appropriately named Our Lady of Victories Catholic church at Glenelg.

Sitting in the large, grand church on Tuesday’s fine but cold morning, it was clear just how close the Williams family is. Last Thursday they lost Von, their "rock", aged 82.

The alter was decorated with photographs of Von with her family, as well as a small Power flag.

Jenny was bright and full of enthusiasm as she spent around 15 minutes telling the story of her mum’s life.

Von was born Veronica Ganley in Hawker, SA in 1923 and was the seventh of 11 children. Jenny said the family “didn’t have much other than each other and a great attitude towards life”.

She moved to Adelaide in the 40s and it was as though she knew everyone in the town. Jenny was told apparently the boys used to call her ‘The Body’, well before Elle McPherson made the nickname her own.

Von was a tennis champion - “a powerhouse on grass”, she strictly drank just tea and water, loved family holidays in the summer, was a wonderful cook and collected every article, trophy and video showing the sporting success of her husband and kids.

Jenny told the story of Von having quadruple bypass surgery six weeks before the 2004 AFL grand final but still making it over to Melbourne for the game.

“Don’t worry about priority seats, we sat among the cheer squad and experienced the ultimate joy a family can have in football. Mum had a wonderful day and didn’t learn too many new words,” Jenny said.

“On the trip home on the plane they announced she was on board and everyone clapped. We believe she would be personally associated with more premierships than any other person."

Jenny didn’t miss the occasion to make a football statement when she spoke of one thing Von hadn’t achieved in her lifetime.

“One thing left to do was... to help me get the AFL to make Dad a ‘Legend of the Game’, after all she said ‘he was the best coach ever and he played with the ferocity that inspired others’.” The AFL Hall of Fame currently has 17 members who are considered ‘Legends of the Game’. Barrie Robran is the only South Australian elevated to that status.

Jenny talked about how proud Von was of her family and described her as “the rock”.

“She was such an optimist, no wonder she produced resilient kids,” she said, “she always told us about the day she won tennis when she was 5-0 down and when Mum played golf she was the only one I knew that thought the hole was like a bucket when she was putting.

“Mum’s occupation was listed as home duties – it sounded so inadequate. She was a stay at home mum but we could have called her psychologist, life coach, taxi driver, doctor, nurse, teacher, motivator, all unpaid and all done brilliantly.

“She always made you feel good and believed that you could do anything. If everyone had a mum like us, no-one would ever doubt themselves and everyone would consider others.”

Von’s seven grandchildren also spoke bravely of their granny.

“Our granny was the best granny in the whole world. She would always come to our sport and cheer for us even if we were coming dead last.”

To emphasise their point they held up a sponsors sign in Power colours that they’d kept since it was given out at the 2004 AFL grand final and it read ‘Oh, what a Granny’.

Surely no family has had a greater impact on a football club than the Williams family has had on Port Adelaide. On Tuesday it was obvious the impact this family has made on sport. Guests included many SANFL executives and commissioners, Crows chairman Bill Sanders and state football champions Neil Kerley, Graham Cornes, Darren Jarman and Lindsay Head. Of course, the Port Adelaide contingent was strong with the entire Power squad attending as well as an endless list of champion Port Adelaide players like Lloyd Zucker, Geof Motley, Russell Ebert, and Brian Cunningham.

Photos of Von were shown on a large screen at the front of the church while music played. Family and friends continued to share stories and reminisce on the life of Von Williams upstairs at The Port Club at Alberton on Tuesday afternoon.