Robert Lee Watson

Robert L. Watson, age 88, died at his home in Carson, WA on 12/12/12 of pulmonary fibrosis. He is survived by Willavere, his wife of 61 years (pictured left), son Vincent, daughter Kristine, granddaughter Rea (pictured right), age 11 and grandson Ethan, age 7. He will be greatly missed by many in-laws, nephews and nieces who remember their “Uncle bob” with great affection. Bob was born July 22, 1924 in Pettigrew Arkansas to Duke and Ida Watson. Raised in Cushing, Oklahoma he moved to California at age 16 then to the Pacific Northwest in the late 1940’s. He married Willie McKinney of Kalama, Washington in 1951. A member of the International Union of Operating Engineers since 1951, Bob worked on numerous dams throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Venezuela as a batch plant operator, then supervisor. He also worked on an airfield in Greenland and sections of the I5 corridor in Washington State. In the late 1970’s he worked on the Alaskan Pipeline. He retired in 1986. An avid outdoorsman, Bob enjoyed fishing the Columbia for salmon and sturgeon, hunting elk, deer and moose, digging razor clams on the Washington coast and picking berries. He also had an interest in gold panning and mining, bowling and golf. Always with a book in hand, he was a voracious reader from early childhood until his last days. Bob’s ashes will be interred in the Kalama Cemetery, followed by a family memorial service at the Fellowship Hall of the Kalama Church of the Nazarene on January 5, 2013.