William Ware Watts, only son of William Cary Watts and Mary Mackie V. Hurt, passed from this life on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. He lived on this earth for eighty seven and three quarter years, being birthed in Fitzgerald, Georgia in the winter of 1930, and breathing his last in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.
He spent his days in Georgia and Alabama with a few sojourns to Virginia as a “tree skinner” and Algeria as a Corporal in the U.S. Air Force. He graduated from Newington High School, Newington, Georgia, 1947, and the University of Georgia in 1959. He spent many of his adult years assisting in the operation of a nuclear reactor, designing rockets to travel to the moon and then designing rocket systems to shoot down other rockets.
After retirement he built a house, planted a garden, painted some portraits, and manufactured what we believe to be the world’s only combo winch lift/garden plough for a three point tractor hitch.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Josie Jean Hallmark; his sons, William Daniel, Patrick Michael, and Kenneth Stuart; and his daughter, Lisa Carol; his daughters-in-law, Nancy Hill Watts and Dwala Ferrell; and his son-in-law, Ronald Sparkman; grandchildren, Patricia, Laura, Micah, Kelsey, Wesley, and Cameron; and great-grandchildren, Lily, Annabelle, Juliette, Olive, Evelyn, and River.
In lieu of flowers, please spend an evening with your family or friends playing rummy or scrabble, watching “The Quiet Man” or “The Pink Panther”, discussing how gravity works, eating boiled peanuts, sleeping in your recliner, or listening to Ray Charles or Willie Nelson.
His family invites you to a memorial service at First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Sunday, November 5th at 1:30 p.m. with a reception to follow. Magnolia Chapel North directing services.
