Perry O. Watkins

He came to Wichita, Kansas in the early 1950’s. He started working at the mill in 1952 and retired in 1992.

He was married 61 years to Wanda Watkins and they had 4 children, O’Dean, Ronnie, Terry and Deanna Watkins, 4 grandchildren, Johnny, Justin, Taira and Austin Watkins and eleven great grandchildren.

He enjoyed traveling to Oklahoma and Arkansas to visit family whenever he could.

Perry was a stubborn man but had a soft heart when it came to the great grandchildren. He loved to take them to McDonald’s to get a happy meal and always spoiled them by giving his dollar bills to them out of his front shirt pocket; especially the youngest great granddaughter, Zoey.

He also had his “own way” of fixing things.

He was on a traveling bowling team and had a good arm. He bowled a 300 several times but really just enjoyed the sport.

One of his favorite hobbies he was passionate about was collecting coins and old money.

One day on his way home, on the side of the road was a car for sale he just had to have. It was a 1964 Ford T-Bird. He would polish it up for hours and enjoyed driving it up to Park City to visit his good friend, Daryl.

Every spring he would plant tomato plants and watered them every day and watch them grow. If Wanda had a plant somewhere growing well, then he would have a tomato plant beside it before long. The trick to his tomatoes was beating his great grandson, Dakota, to the red ripe ones first.

Since he was born in Oklahoma, he was a huge Oklahoma Sooners fan. He wore his OU hat proudly, win or lose. He also watched Nascar Racing and would say he didn’t care who won as long as the car was a Ford.

He enjoyed watching old Western shows, The Pawn Stars, American Pickers, The Barrett Jackson car auction and would often nap throughout the show but enjoyed them anyhow.

He loved to devour a catfish meal from the Cracker Barrel or just fry himself up some chicken wings for him and the great grandkids to share.

Anyone that knew Perry knew he was a Ford man, but when we planned a family trip to Orlando, Florida to go to Disney World, he decided to trade in his Lincoln Continental for a Dodge Caravan so we would have room to travel and one less vehicle we had to rent.

In the 82 years he was with us, there are many things he has done, but these are some of the greatest stories we wanted to share. He was well loved and will never be forgotten..

Memorial service 2pm, Saturday, October 27, 2012, DeVorss Flanagan-Hunt Mortuary, 201 S. Hydraulic, Wichita, KS 67211.

Condolences may be offered at www.devorssflanganhunt.com