Wahkiakum Eagle-September 1998

WATSON, R. O.

  Age 83, of Puget Island, died at the Hospice Care Center.
  He was born in Cowarts, N.C., to William A. and Mary (Woods) Watson, 
and was raised in North Carolina.  He served 4 1/2 years in the Army 
during WWII in France and Germany.
  He and Nina L. Melton were married June 12, 1948, in Clayton, Ga.
  In North Carolina, he worked as a sawyer in lumber mills.
In 1960, he and his wife moved to Puget Island/Cathlamet area, and he 
began working for Crown Zellerbach Corp operating heavy equipment.  He 
worked for Crown Zellerbach for 19 ½ years, retiring in 1979.
  Favorite hobbies were fishing, gardening, hunting, camping, and 
working on his home and property on Puget Island.
  He was a member of Stella Lutheran Chapel and the International 
Woodworkers of America-TOC.
  Survivors include his wife, Nina, at home; two daughters, Debbie 
Haynes of Gresham, Ore., and Elizabeth Norris of Kelso; a brother, 
Henry Watson of Springfield, Ore.; five grandchildren.  He was preceded 
in death by a daughter, Mary Jane Watson in 1954; three sisters; and 
three brothers.
  Funeral services were Wednesday at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church on 
Puget Island.  Pastor Jim Braaten officiated.
  Dowling Funeral Home was in charge.


Greenwood Cemetery-Cathlamet, Wa.
16 Oct 1914-12 Sep 1998
(As transcribed by the Wahkiakum County Historical Society 2005 from 
original newspaper collection.)