Davison "David" Watrous

David Watrous, 87, of New Bern, NC passed away on Friday May 17, 2024 at his home under the care of his loving family and hospice services. David was born on July 19,1936 in Middletown, Connecticut to the late Alden and Anna Gustufson Watrous.

He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Mina (Mimi) Underwood Watrous; daughters, Carla Johnson and her husband, Vincent; Shelley Palermo and her husband, Jim; Mina Durkan and her husband, Sean; grandchildren, Isaiah, Delaney, Jamie, Davis, and his wife, Jenna.

He was a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a BA degree in Geology and a loyal member of Sigma Chi Alpha fraternity. He continued his schooling at the Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, and in 1960 started his career as an Ensign in the US Navy.

Thus started a long and varied career that took David, Mimi and their growing family to many ports of call...Jacksonville FL, Pensacola, FL, Hawaii, the Philippines, San Francisco (David on an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea), Germany and finally stateside in Northern VA where he retired as a CDR. Throughout this 22 year period we had many exciting experiences and made many new friends. We always managed to celebrate our holidays in our new places with new people and David found he loved entertaining. We carried on this tradition when we returned stateside. But most importantly, his career instilled in him a great love for his country and he admired the sacrifices so many have made. He was proud to fly that flag!

He was great at fixing things, knew a lot about cars, discovered a love of gardening, playing squash, running, entertaining and maybe most of all coaching girls soccer. He treated all the girls with great respect and patience and they loved him for that. He treated his family of girls the same way...he made them feel as if they could do anything.

When he retired he wanted a place where he could indulge his love of sailing. We happened upon New Bern in our search up and down the east coast and decided in 2001 to make our move. It proved to be a perfect place for us. In between short sailing trips and memorable family beach vacations in Hatteras, he did a stint on the POA Board at Fairfield Harbor, became a Stephen Minister at Christ Church, was a long time member of the History Book Club in Taberna sang with the Southern Gentleman Barbershop group, the Community Chorus and his favorite, the choir at Christ Church.

We will miss his sense of honor, his quirky humor, his good nature, his willingness to help and most of all his deep and expressed love for his family.

A celebration and memorial service will be held at Christ Church in New Bern, NC on June 11, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers consider making a gift to Christ Episcopal Church Music Fund at Christ Church, P.O. Box 1246, New Bern, NC 28563 and/or Craven County Hospice at 2818 Neuse Blvd. New Bern NC 28562.

Cotten Funeral Home is honored to serve the family and friends of David Watrous.