Louise Watson – In Memoriam

Watson family.

 

Louise Watson passed away last week; I attended her memorial service yesterday, and the sanctuary was filled to overflowing; Louise was involved with many throughout the community.

I spent many hours in George and Louise Watson’s home as a teenager. Louise, or as I called her in the polite ways of those times, Mrs. Watson, was very welcoming to me and all of George Junior’s friends. She fed us both with food and attention, and it seemed as if, during any visit, we were her own children, even to the point of an occasional mild, and usually merited, scolding. She was very proud of her chili con carne, which was excellent, and which she proffered in the large quantities all desperately hungry teenagers craved.

In those days, Louise was heavily involved not just with her family, but with the community around her, volunteering in home senior care, the Gray Panthers, and was always ready to help someone in need.

I especially remember how she and George and their children took such superb and loving care of her aging parents; even at the very end, when they were in nursing homes, someone from the family was there with them every single day. When my father-in-law Burt Ferguson was diagnosed several months ago with terminal cancer, I remembered the dedicated care the Watsons, and Louise particularly, gave to her parents at the end of their lives, and tried to model my own care of Burt after that fashion. In a way, it is part of the legacy of Louise Watson.

Watson family.

 

Her legacy also includes her service during World War II in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.  Louise served in Germany from 1943 to 1945 as a surgical nurse, caring for wounded soldiers.

My condolences to the Watson family, and particularly to my friend George, Jr.