COLEMAN HOLLOWAY
WATSON
Birth: 6 June 1882 in Pleasant Site, Franklin,
Alabama
Death: 21 Oct. 1975 in Helena,
Lewis & Clark, Montana
Coleman H. Watson, 83, of 301
S. Oaks, died at his home in Helena, Montana
Tuesday, October 21, 1975.
Funeral services were held Thursday,
October 23, at 2 p.m. in the Ketz Chapel with the
Rev. George Harper officiating. Burial was in
Sunset Memorial Gardens.
Watson was born in Pleasant Site, Ala.,
on June 6, 1892, to John and Molly Williams
Watson. The family moved to luka, Miss., where he
attended high school. He also attended the Rose
Polytechnic Institute in Indiana and Mississippi
State University and Auburn University.
Watson served during World War I in the
U. S. Army. He taught electrical engineering at
the University of Alabama during World War II. He
was
then employed as a physicist and electrical
engineer in the electrical laboratory for United
States Steel plants in Birmingham, Ala. He retired
in 1958.
Watson served as a Sunday School
Superintendent for Ensley Highlands Methodist
Church in Birmingham for 18 years.
He married Willard Dye in Lincoln,
Ala., Dec. 22, 1921. They moved to Helena in 1969
and have resided there since.
He was a member of St. Pauls United
Methodist Church.
Survivors include the widow; a
daughter, Mrs. George (Dorothy) Harper, Helena; a
son, James R. Watson, Helena; a sister, Mrs. S. H.
Hunger, Sr., Winona, Miss.; seven grandchildren;
and several nieces and nephews.
Source: Submitted by
Dianne
Armstrong
MOLLIE H. WILLIAMS WATSON
Life
Long Citizen Dies in Greenwood
Birth: 18 Dec. 1867 in Pleasant Site, Franklin,
Alabama
Death: 4 June 1993 in Helena, Lewis
& Clark, Montana
Services for Mrs. Mollie Watson, widow of late
John H. Watson, were held at Cutshall Funeral Home
Thursday of last week at 11 a.m., with Rev. J. H.
Holder officiating. Burial was in Oak Grove
Cemetery with Cutshall directing.
Mrs. Watson died Christmas eve, December 24, in
the Golden Age Nursing home in Greenwood where she
had been a patient two months. She suffered a
broken hip more than two months ago after which
she was a patient in Colbert county hospital and
Cosby clinic.
She was a native of Russellville, Ala., the
daughter of the late Prof. H. H. Williams. Mr.
Williams lived in Iuda more than sixty years and
was the oldest citizen of the town, known and
loved by all. She was the daughter of a
Presbyterian elder and had been a member of that
church all of her long and useful life. She was 90
on December 18.
Mrs. Watson is survived by two sons, Hollie
Watson, Birmingham, Ala.; and John Watson, Iuka;
one Daughter, Mrs. Shed Hill Hunger, Winona, Miss;
five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren.
Serving as pallbearers: Shed Hill Hunger, Frank
Watson Hunger, Jim Watson, Watson Brown, Billy
Brown and Charles Biggs.
Source: Submitted by Dianne
Armstrong
CAPT. ROBERT H. WATSON
This week we make the sad announcement
of the death of one of our most prominent
citizens. Last Sunday evening, Captain Robert H.
Watson passed off into that dreamless sleep that
marks the line between time and eternity. This
news will bring sadness to many hearts in
Tishomingo County, for he was well known and
widely loved. His death will bring to mind many
courtesies and acts of kindness which he was
always willing and glad to do. No better evidence
of the high esteem in which this true-hearted man
is held is unneeded than to watch and count the
immense throng of people which followed him to his
last resting place. The funeral services were
conducted at the Methodist Church by Rev. J. J.
Lowe, of Byhalia. The friends and acquaintances of
the deceased turned out en masse and all could not
find room in the church. The bier was made
beautiful by loving hands with floral decorations.
The ceremony was brief and simple, but touching
and appropriate. It was a brave and loyal man, and
friend and father, a loving husband and useful
citizen to whom we rendered tribute. The long
procession followed the remains to the cemetery
where the lifeless body was tenderly laid to rest.
Captain Watson spent most of his life in
Tishomingo County. He was born August 5, 1832, in
York District, S.C. He came to this County very
young. At the age of 20, he began clerking at East
Port with R. B. Brown. In three years, he went to
Pleasant Site, Ala., and began business as a
merchant, planter, and miller. He was highly
successful and soon amassed considerable property
by economy and good management. He married Miss
Martha J. Harrison, of Lauderdale Co., Ala., and
by her had five children, two of whom are yet
living—John H. and Charles L. Watson. His first
wife died in January 1878. He married again in
1879 to Miss Morilla Cross, daughter of Dr. Cross,
of Lauderdale Co., Ala., who still survives him.
When the call for troops was made in 1861, Capt.
Watson was among the first to respond. He was made
Captain of Company R of the 27th Alabama Infantry.
This position he held for one year and was made
Captain of a Calvary Company, and engaged in many
important battles and skirmishes. He was captured
at Fort Donelson, but made his escape. He had many
other exciting experiences and narrow escapes during his service in the
Army. He was finally paroled at luka in the year
1865. In 1884, he removed to luka and went into
the mercantile business. In 1890, he bought the
famous luka Springs Hotel and made many additions
and improvements. Many years ago, he joined the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church and remained a
faithful member until his removal to luka, when
he, with his loving wife, united himself with the
Methodist Church at this place. He was a firm
believer in the Christian religions and died in
the belief that he was going to a better world. He
was a man of wonderful physical endurance, and
until stricken down last November, was always in
good health. He had been a sufferer for several
months and the end was not unexpected; however, it
was a shock to his relatives and friends who had
hoped against hope for his recovery. He will be
missed in luka for he was public spirited and
progressive in his views. He was always ready to
foster any public enterprise, helpful to the
churches and the cause of education. The mortal
part of him is dead, but his memory will never
die. Let us emulate his virtues and remember him
for the good he has done.
Source: The
luka Vidette (luka, Miss.), August 28, 1894,
Submitted by Dianne
Armstrong.
WILLARD WATSON (Lula Willard Dye
Watson)
Dedicated Church
Woman
Birth: 27
June 1899 in Pleasant Site, Franklin,
Alabama
Death: 4 June 1993 in Helena, Lewis
& Clark, Montana
Willard Dye Watson, 93, of 38 Clover
view, died Friday evening following an extended
illness. She was born June 27, 1899, to Rev. David
Turner Dye and Mary Rebecca Cochrane Dye in
Pleasant Site, Ala., the third of their four
children. She attended first grade at Athens
College, Athens, Ala., and completed her formal
education with a year at Alabama College (now the
University of Montevallo).
Named for Francis E. Willard, the world
renowned educator/reformer and women's rights
advocate, she strove to live up to that name with
her dedication to tithing to her
church of both her finances and her time. Among
her many contributions was 25 years of sewing new
clothes for orphaned children in the Methodist
Children's Home in Alabama.
After her husband's retirement, she
moved with him to Helena, where they continued to
contribute their resources to the support of the
Intermountain Children's Home, the Indian Alliance
and other interests of the Methodist Church. A
dedicated mother and homemaker, Willard spent many
years of her life caring for sick relatives, as
well as making a place in her home for her wheelchair-bound mother for 30
years.
Since the death of her husband in 1975,
she has made her home with her daughter, Dorothy
Watson Harper, and son-in-law, Rev. George Harper.
She also is survived by her son Jim Watson and
daughter-in-law Marta Pouliot Watson of Helena;
seven grand-children: Dianne Watson Armstrong of
Helena, Larry James Watson of Portland, Ore.,
Rusty, Hal, and Steve Harper and Nancy Harper
McNeilly of Helena, and Janice Harper Fuhrmann of Minneapolis; five
great-grandchildren: Robin and Molly Harper, Emily
McNeilly, Hannah and Rebecca Campbell Harper, all
of Helena, and three nieces and a nephew in
Alabama.
Memorial services will be held at 11
a.m. Monday at St. Paul's United Methodist
Church.
Source: Independent
Record, Helena, Mont., Sunday, June 6, 1993,
Submitted by Dianne
Armstrong.
