Terrell Watts, 77, of Little Rock, Ar. passed away on September 17, 2019. He is survived by his wife Louise; children Monique (Blair Woods), Sean (Kimberly) and Misti (Justin Calmes); sister Judy Teague and; grandchildren Christopher, Taylor, Hannah, Emmaly, Madeline, and Cameron.
Terrell Watts was a life-long learner – participating in the high school leadership program Boys State, expanding a passion of mechanical engineering from his college days in Michigan to more than 3 decades of exploring the world of rocks and soils to make better materials for roads during a career with the Arkansas Highway Department. And while working, he went to night school to get his law degree at UALR. He never practiced, but he could always be counted on to share with anyone who would listen the roles, powers and structures of the law while vociferously defending the basic rights of citizens.
If you were lucky enough – or brave enough – to try his chili, you were spoiled for that dish for life. Terrell loved food, and was known for his late night cheese dip, his barbecue ribs and most definitely for his chili. There was never too much meat or heat in his dishes! He was also the master of fish fries – fileting bream into the most delicious bite-sized morsels, with a side of fries and hush puppies, of course.
And Terrell Watts was passionate about life. His motto was “It’s about the quality, not the quantity.” If he started a story, people would come from every room to gather around to hear. He laughed at his own jokes, gave opinions on everything, and always wanted to win.
He loved being with people, especially his family. He missed those he loved who had gone before him. He would go out of his way to stop in to say hello to his friends – even the people he met at his favorite restaurants and stores or the doctors’ offices.
In his last few months of life, he enjoyed a family reunion at one of his favorite places, Mount Magazine; he spent time on his back porch bird watching, and enjoying nature with his best pup – Honey. He scared us all by tooling around on an all terrain vehicle on the newly cut paths on his beloved Watts Mountain. And on his last day he did what he did best – he shared an adventure at the aquarium with his newest grandson, and his daughter and her family. That is just the way life was with Terrell Watts – always an adventure.
Now, cue the music. But not the sad songs, because he loved all music. He had a collection of albums, eight-track tapes, cassettes and compact discs to prove it. In fact, his children – and probably his grandkids all dusted off the turntable, streamed and sang through this past week of loss and remembrance. That is what Terrell would have wanted from everyone who knew him.
And let’s just hope that there are great cars wherever his spirit has gone now, because he did love a set of nice wheels.
Thanks for sharing your life with us Terrell Watts. You will sorely be missed and loved.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your charity of choice.
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