Maria Frances Watson

Life:

Maria was born January 10, 1959, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston to Frank and Josephine (Limon) Lopez, and she married Mark Watson on July 30, 1983, at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Houston.

Maria graduated from Bellaire High School in 1978, and attended the University of Houston for two years.

Maria primarily worked in retail, education and health care. Her retail career included stints as front-line manager of various departments at a Target store in Houston, a Dollar General store manager in Lufkin, Texas, and as a food demonstrator at HEB in Houston.

Maria’s education career included managing a day-care center at a women’s shelter in Pineville, Louisiana; a teacher’s aide at a school in Clinton, Mississippi; a private day-care center in Memphis, Tennessee; and most recently as a clerk at Margaret Long Wisdom High School, where she was named Employee of the Year twice.

Maria’s health care experience was as the Kelman & Siegel mental health practice’s office manager.

Maria was also active in her community, volunteering at Holy Ghost Catholic Church, earning Parent of the Year honors at Pineville Elementary School, serving as a den mother in Cub Scouts, actively supporting the Memphis Newspaper Guild and block walking for the Southwest (Houston) Democrats.

She has been called “the heart and soul of the Lopez family.” Her robust laughter, brilliant smile, quick wit, “expert backseat driving” and amazing courage – which occasionally got her into trouble – was a unique combination that cannot easily be replaced.

Family:

Maria is survived by her husband Mark Watson; daughter Catherine J. Watson; son Eliot F. Watson; daughter-in-law Alyssa Watson, grandson Francisco Michael “Little Kiko” Watson; mother Josephine Lopez; brothers Frank (Lola), Ed (Sarah), Ted (Clare) and John (Marina) Lopez; her close friend and sister-in-law Monica Lopez; godmother Martha (Johnny) Ramirez; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Maria was preceded in death by her father Francis Lopez and brother Laurence Lopez.

Services:

Due to restrictions on the size of assembly during this time of novel coronavirus pandemic, services are limited to a visitation and graveside memorial, and only the immediate family will be attending.

Special thanks to the physicians, surgeons, nurses and others staffing the Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital’s Neuro Intensive Care Unit.

Flowers must arrive by 1 pm Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services, 7010 Chetwood Drive, Houston, Texas, 77081.