Obituary of Patricia Estelle Watson

Patricia Estelle Watson, née Agee, was born in St. Petersburg on January 3, 1937. She grew up with her younger sister Sandy and her parents, Homer and Thelma. She married Jack Watson and they had four children: Kelly, Kirby, Kevin, and Kristin. She also leaves behind ten grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

She grew up here and graduated from St. Petersburg High School in 1955. For ten years, she studied classical piano and performed many classical recitals. She had considered becoming a flight attendant but she married Jack when he returned from the Navy after the Korean War. They met at St. Petersburg Junior College. Their life took them to the University of Florida where Jack graduated with an accounting degree and began law school. She typed his papers and for the next twenty-six years, played an invaluable and primary role bringing up the children, managing the household, and tending to the many dogs and the rabbit and the ferret and a number of birds, even a duck.

But once they were older and the first children had left, she decided to adapt to the free time by learning to do things. She began flying at Albert Whitted Airport and within a few years, had logged the hours to increase her rating till she reached her commercial pilot’s license. Part of this involved accruing miles, sometimes just a flight to Auburn to see her son Kelly or to Florida State to take her son Kirby to lunch or flying down to Fort Meyers with Kristin. She also made the most of her flying by taking friends to the east coast to spend the day. Later, she successfully ran a patio furniture business for five years, and as she grew older, she began to paint, taking her full-on approach to this endeavor like she did to everything else. We all have paintings of our dogs from her, and these have become enduring reminders of her. This free time in middle life also prompted her to work on cooking, which was always good, and she became an avid reader. One focus of that was her many books of religious inspiration. She became a dedicated participant in Bible Study Fellowship for nearly thirty years, several as the group leader.

In fact, she gave us many gifts throughout our lives. Hers was a life of giving. In her final years, she played an active role in the lives of her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and she was adored by all. She lived a life of events, a variety of challenges and successes. At 87, she died peacefully in her own home with her children gathered around her.