Roberta McWatt Trussell

Beloved daughter of Davina and Robert McWatt, beloved wife, sister, and aunt, Roberta McWatt Trussell took leave of this Earth on October 8, 2020 to be reunited with those precious loved ones who went before her.

Bobby enjoyed growing up in the small town of Hampton, Virginia and was always the studious one in a family of four daughters. The youngest child, she was the closest to her father, Robert (Bobby) McWatt, her namesake. Her father spent time teaching her to read before she started school, thereby inculcating her lifelong love of reading. Robert McWatt taught his daughter many things, including his passion for golf. He came to the United States from Scotland to begin a career as a golf pro in various country clubs in the southern states, where he also designed golf courses. His father before him, Thomas McWatt, was a golf pro at the Epsom Golf Club in Epsom Downs, Surrey, England.

Bobby was a first generation American, but she always appreciated her Scottish roots, as both her parents came from Scotland and kept in touch with the relatives in the “old country”, and family who had emigrated to Canada, and Australia. She was interested in her family’s history and knew fascinating details about the McWatt family, such as having John Muir in her family tree.

Hampton was a military town, and Bobby met and married an Air Force officer, Clyde Trussell, the love of her life. They travelled and lived in many exotic places, including Japan in the early 1950s, and Panama. Bobby was able to use her high school Spanish in Panama and when visiting Cuba.

Being the wife of an Air Force pilot, Bobby experienced some job discrimination, as women did not have equal rights in those days. She was not expected to work outside the home, but was expected to fulfill the duties of the air force wife in entertaining the other officers and their wives. She enjoyed the socializing and cooking of meals, but she always desired to be employed outside the home. Finally, she was permitted to get a civil service job as an administrative assistant to various commanding generals of Air Force bases. She loved working and meeting the never ending array of VIPs, from heads of state of other countries to famous authors, who would come through her office when they had appointments with the generals.

Bobby enjoyed a long career, and when she and her husband retired, they settled in Tampa, Florida. Unfortunately, Clyde’s life was cut short by a brain tumor at 64 years of age, leaving Bobby a widow. She kept in touch with Clyde’s relatives all her life and loved his family like she did her own.

Bobby is survived by her niece, the only child and grandchild in the McWatt family, Barbara Lee Lafaver, who lives in San Diego, California, and who will miss her counsel greatly.