Fern Watson

Fern Watson (nee: Little) was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on November 16, 1926. She always saw herself as a true Scorpio. She loved her big brother, her little dog and cat, and her friends. She was sociable and surrounded herself with friends and activities from an early age. She loved to dance, dancing on both ice skates and roller skates in her teens, Scottish country, square and ballroom dancing with her husband in her adulthood. She loved theatre and musical theatre, both acting and appreciating. She loved movies - Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers and musicals with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy - and movie nights at the Classic and Kings Theatres in Winnipeg. She related strongly in her later years to her grandsons’ passion for movies. She loved dressing up to go out, from a young age, and remembered each of her many prom dresses.

Fern embraced work from an early age, starting at the age of 15 at the Belgian Hosiery Shop. She loved every job she ever had (almost). She worked for five summers at the Great West Life head office in downtown Winnipeg. It was here she made friends with Margaret Wilson, by being a substitute dinner guest with Margaret’s family when her first invitee cancelled at the last minute. At this dinner, Fern met her husband Bill and fell in love with his mother!

Fern graduated from the University of Manitoba with degrees in English (1947) and Social Work (1949). She worked as a high school English and French teacher in Selkirk, Manitoba at the age of 20. She had a few good stories from those days. Her first social work job, and one of her two favourites (her other favourite was her final job), was in Adoptions with the Child Placement Branch of the Manitoba Department of Public Welfare. Here she worked directly with the children for very long periods before adoption placement, establishing relationships with them to build trust. She attended the wedding many years later of a difficult 4-year-old that she had placed. A couple of days before she passed she corrected the storyteller relating this story and said “2 weddings!”, with a sparkle in her eye. She had a great love of humour and of storytelling throughout her entire life. During this period, she was loaned out to the flood board to work with victims of Winnipeg’s 1950 flood. She was tapped for leadership for the first time from this role but chose to stay in the Adoptions job she loved.

After her first child, Fern worked as a 1-year fill-in Executive Director for the fledgling John Howard and Elizabeth Fry Society. This job profoundly influenced her world view and likely planted the seed for her eventual choice of the Society of Friends as her church.

When her children were young, Fern worked at St. Joseph’s Day Nursery. Her supervisor, Sister Grace Garvie, remained a family friend forever. Even more importantly, this is where Fern met and included Patti to be an almost part of the family.

The Society for Crippled Children and Adults gave Fern some interesting experiences over the 6 months she worked for them. There was a famous story involving big barking dogs in a country laneway and her own great bravery through naivete. 😊 This quote from her resume says it all: “I left this job as it was a country caseload and there seemed little chance of getting a city placement, and with 4 little children at home …”

Shortly after this she found a job with the same hours and holidays as the school system, which suited her family life. She loved taking her kids to the cottage in Victoria Beach, Manitoba for the summer. In this job, she was on a multi-disciplinary team at the Child Guidance Clinic, working with referrals from the schools. Her children remember the many young people, Fern’s clients, who spent time at their home or on outings with the family.

Her final job lasted for 12 years. As Director of Social Work at the Grace Hospital, Fern made many changes to her department’s status and usefulness through relentless advocacy. She also requested to have her own caseload and maintained that throughout her time there, even as her department was growing.

Fern married Roy Watson of Winnipeg in 1987 then took an around-the-world tour with him. They moved to Victoria in 1992 and lived in Brentwood Bay. Fern loved playing games, especially cards, and taught her children to play cards early so she’d have people to play with. She played a lot of bridge in her retirement, several games per week. Her last bridge game was a couple of months before her passing. She played Yahtzee with some family members less than 2 weeks before she passed. She also continued to love theatre and had tickets for many of the Victoria and Vancouver Island theatres over the years. She was in the audience for “Serving Elizabeth” at The Belfry last November, and for the Peninsula Singers at the Mary Winspear Centre on May 1st!. She never missed a Peninsula Singers concert since first attending decades ago.

Fern became quite devoted to personal fitness in her late forties. She gave up daily exercises around the time of her 95th birthday. She loved family dinners, talking on the phone and dining at a round table. She loved flowers and walking and Hawaii. She loved politics and current events and reading, mostly non-fiction. She read 46 books in 2021. She loved saving money and she loved her friends.She spent her last 10 years very enjoyably at the Amica Beechwood Retirement Home in Sidney BC. Her dear friends, who dined nightly at the same round table throughout the last decade called Fern “the catalyst”.

Fern passed away quietly May 12, 2022. She was predeceased by her only sibling Glenn Little and her two husbands, Bill Wilson and Roy Watson. She will be sorely missed by her children Laurie, Bill, Bob (Diana), and David (Loretta) Wilson, her grandchildren Hayden, Richelle, Jacob, Samarie and Noah Wilson, and her 7 nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life will be held on May 18, 2022 at 2 pm at Langtry Walk, 1872 Stelly’s Cross Road in North Saanich. All are welcome. Livestream Link: https://tinyurl.com/42x49uda. Donations in memory of Fern will be welcomed by the Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.firstmemorialsaanich.com for the WATSON family.