Sam Leigh Harris-Watson

On May 10th, Sam Harris-Watson, beloved wife, mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, passed away at the age of 69 years young. Sam (Dianne Leigh Harris) was born in Long Island, New York on March 5, 1954. She spent some of her childhood in Rocky Point, New York, where she had much family (cousins, aunts, uncles). She relocated with her family to Camarillo, California at the age of 15 years. Within a few short years, she was cultivating a family of her own. As her children got older, she blossomed into brand new life experiences. She relocated to Morro Bay, California; went back to school and earned a college education and made close friends, who introduced her to a world of building one-passenger airplanes. Her passion for learning new things and of the outdoors drove her to travel. She loved to fly, take cruises, and even learned to ride her very own motorcycle.

In 2007, she found devoted love and remarried to Jim Watson. They traveled back to her childhood home in Rocky Point, where she got in touch with her childhood memories. She expressed her love for her childhood home in a touching letter to her brother, Chuck Sabat.

Her deep devotion and love for her family will live on in those who remain alive today. She touched the lives of so many people, including neighbors and friends. Many of her family, neighbors and friends received beautiful homemade work from her diligent, loving hands. She loved to crochet and made many beautiful blankets and gifts. Her children still have their baby blankets that she made. She made Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless in her community and other meals for her neighbors and friends who were without the means, health or the family to enjoy such a blessing. In the words of her brother, Chuck: you were always welcome in her home, and she always made sure you had a nice warm home-cooked meal. She loved the beach and going on drives and walks with her family and her beloved dog-companion, Dixie, who she saved the life of as a very small puppy. She brought her home and nursed her to health. Today, she is an affectionate and bright senior dog, and remains the companion of Sam’s husband, Jim. Sam (Dianne’s) late parents were Deloris and Thomas Sabat. She leaves behind her two adult children, Amber and Christopher, her grandchildren: Briana (“Bree”) and Nicolette Goodchild, and Jillian Pumphrey; Emily and Ce’Nedra (“CJ”) Pumphrey, and great-grandchild Adeleigh Pumphrey. She also leaves behind her sister, Vickie (Victoria Sabat) DeWolfe, and brothers Bruce, Chuck (Charlie), Gerald, and Gregory Sabat, and sons-in-law Sam Watson and Patrick Lepien and daughter-in-law Dana Pumphrey, and brother-in-law Troy DeWolfe. She is joined in eternity to her parents Deloris and Thomas Sabat, Grandmother Gruber, and brothers Michael Sabat and Arthur Harris and David Harris. She has left behind a legacy of dedication and determination to go after your dreams, no matter what the obstacles, and of unconditional generosity and devotion to family. She will be missed. May her legacy live on in those lives she has touched with her strength and devotion.