Nelle Watters

Nelle Hester Watters, daughter of Elmo Cleveland Hester and Frances Miller Hester, was born in Cuthbert, GA in 1931, the sole remaining child of eight children in the Hester family, transitioned peacefully on August 16, 2023 to her Heavenly home. A rose among thickets of despair, Nelle Watters brought light, love, and hope to the generations she touched.

An Honor graduate of Cuthbert High School in 1947, Nelle attended West Georgia College (now University of West Georgia), earning an associate degree in 1949 and was the Gordon Watson Scholar. During her time at West Georgia, she met her husband-to-be, Avery Carroll Watters, whom she married in March 1950. Nelle spent the preponderance of her ninety-two years in Rome, GA, since 1950, married to Avery Carroll Watters for 66 years, until his passing in 2016.

A life spent in service to others, Nelle Watters raised four children in the best spirit of the Greatest Generation legacy of discipline and love, and in doing so delayed her own professional pursuits, before earning her Bachelor of Science degree in childhood education from Berry College in 1969 and was inducted into the Alpha Chi Honor Society. Afterwards, she taught fourth and fifth grades at Model Elementary School for thirteen years, often serving as a substitute teacher beyond those years.

Never one to acquiesce to idleness, she devoted her retirement years to volunteer service in the Volunteer Auxiliary at Floyd Medical Center (now Atrium Health Floyd) for thirty-eight years, serving as chairperson of Big Kids and Babies, as well as the North District Director for the auxiliary organization of the Georgia Hospital Association. She compiled the first-ever leadership handbook for auxiliary district directors. In addition, she worked at the hospital’s gift shop. She was featured in a December 1996 profile by the Rome News-Tribune for her community service and hospital volunteer work. She was recognized in 2000 as the Floyd Medical Center Foundation Good Samaritan of the Year.

Among her most treasured years of that service were those spent aiding prospective scholarship students for Berry’s new nursing program, as well as for nursing students at Shorter University and Floyd College. Beloved by family and friends, Nelle was a lifetime learner and was selfless in every respect of the word. Her willingness to accept a daunting challenge was matched only by her passion for serving others.

Nelle Watters was the state secretary for 4-H during her high school senior year in 1947, sharing her broad scope of farming and planting experiences for the benefit of others. She thrived in a world of gardens, of flowers, plants, and vegetables. These working metaphors of the essence of life were some of her favorite “happy places”. She possessed the greenest of thumbs, always at peace in her genuine joy of producing seasonal vegetable gardens (which fed her family), as well as nurturing her flower and herb gardens, building them into works of art, which clothed her home and yard in beauty and fragrance. Favorite flowers of Nelle’s included gardenias, pinks, sweet Williams, zinnias, orchids, hydrangeas, and azaleas.

Many an autumn day was spent shaking ripe muscadines and scuppernongs free from their viny holds, sweet homemade jellies and hot buttered biscuits the ultimate result. She made the finest sweet and dill pickles from the garden’s multitudes of cucumbers. She spent countless hours jarring tomatoes, peas, and okra, which kept the family nourished with summertime favorites throughout the post-and-pre-harvest months of the year. A chef of the highest standards, armed with the secrets of family recipes embellished generationally, she blessed her family with the Deep-South glories of homemade banana puddings; hand-cranked ice creams; fried chicken that would have embarrassed Colonel Sanders; meatloaf a la perfection; the fluffiest golden-brown biscuits; and sweet potato soufflés that survived uneaten for only a few minutes out of the oven before their delightfully quick disappearance. These were just a few of her award-winning culinary delights. She brought her “magic” to foods where one might never expect to find such magic, making the most basic of staple foods a dining event.

Nelle often made clothes for her children, spending endless hours at her trusty Singer. Raised during the lean years of the Great Depression and World War Two, Nelle understood the value and wisdom of thrift and frugality. One of her oft-repeated phrases of advice was: “Use it up, wear it out; make it do, or do without.” In 1985, she presented each of her four children with a custom-designed, hand-stitched quilt, all of which had taken her several years to complete. Her attention to details, her demand for the very best, and her devotion to planned outcomes comprised the essence of her love of family, God, and life. Avery Watters, her husband of 66 years for whom she devoted years of round-the-clock care during the infirmity of his latter years of life, once commented that she would have made a great corporate CEO. While no doubt true, her family is happy and blessed that she chose marriage and motherhood.

Nelle kept herself fit, physically and mentally, her daily routine including walks of several miles, though a weakness of hers — if one can call this a “weakness” — were the tasty pleasures of the cookies enjoyed with her friends at The Spires. She loved such brain stimulants as reading, crossword puzzles, daily doses of Jeopardy, and evening ponders of sunsets and geese over The Spires lake. She had an unusual style of gentle command and authority, the perfect mix of hard and soft skills, backed by a wealth of experience, intelligence, and wisdom.

Nelle was a member of First United Methodist Church of Rome for fifty-eight years. Trust in God and faith in action were platforms of her core being. She spent the last sixteen months of her life living at The Spires of Berry College, engaged daily with a host of friends in such activities as Rummikub and Bocce ball, the latter of which she quickly established herself as quite talented. One of Nelle’s most difficult personal decisions was to leave her home and gardens of fifty-seven years, to leave behind the visuals of her and her late husband’s decades of tireless work and dedication, and to re-establish her independent living at The Spires. She loved her Spires apartment and the friends she made more than they can ever fully know.

Nelle is survived by her four children, Dr. Leslie (Mary Anne) Watters; Lori (Rich) Cole; Mark (Christina) Watters; and Trina (Greg) Smith. She had five grandchildren (William Watters; Robert Watters; Zachary Cole; Amy Cole; and Donovan Watters), and three great-grandchildren (Bennett Watters; Blythe Watters; and Charlotte Watters).

Services will be held at Rome First United Methodist Church on Saturday, September 9, 2023. A Memorial Service will be held in the sanctuary at 10 o'clock in the morning, with visitation and reception to follow in the Wilder Center.

In lieu of flowers, send any donations to Rome First United Methodist Church or Volunteer Services at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Daniels-FuneralHome.com for the Watters family.

Daniels Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Mrs. Nelle Watters.