Doris Grace Watson

Doris Watson, born Doris Grace Romines, died on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 in Williamsburg, VA, after a fall. She was born February 5, 1925, near Elkville, Illinois, the eleventh child of John Cano and Anna Belle Walters Romines. She was saved and baptized at the age of twelve, and her beliefs became one of her defining characteristics. Her relationships with her sisters were very special to her throughout their lives. She established a life and community relationships in St. Louis where her sisters shared a home and helped her get a job and where she met her husband, Robert Arthur Watson (Bob), a returning WWII GI. They married on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947. She gave birth in St Louis, to Robert Lee (Bobby), John Roger, and Barbara Jean. The family moved to upstate New York in 1956 when Bob started work with IBM. In 1967, while Bob was temporarily assigned near Dallas, Texas, Doris gave birth there to her fourth and last child, Amy Kay. When Bob retired in 1983, they moved with their youngest--now the only child still at home, to Asheboro, NC. Bob began showing symptoms of dementia when Doris was in her mid-70s, and she became his primary caregiver. He died in 2003. Doris moved into independent living in Virginia near her son John. Doris is survived by her son John and daughter-in-law Linda Baumgarten of Williamsburg, VA, daughter Barbara, son-in-law Ralph Prickett, and granddaughter Victoria Prickett of Spartanburg, SC, and daughter Amy and son-in-law Richard Smith of Columbus, OH, as well as many nieces and nephews. A graveside service will be held in Herrin, IL, thereafter. Donations in Doris’s honor may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (www.azh.org). She was involved with the Walnut Hills Baptist Church and Smith Memorial Baptist Church, both of Williamsburg.