Necrology

Walcott Watson '30

Jul. 11, 1910-Aug. 8, 2005

Walcott Watson ’30, who enjoyed remarkably varied employment during his long and adventurous life, was born on July 11, 1910, in Indianapolis, IN. A son of Lewis and Nancy Walcott Watson, he prepared for college at Charleston High School in South Carolina and found his way to Hamilton from Paterson, NJ, in 1926. On the Hill, “Wally” Watson joined Sigma Phi and excelled scholastically, gaining election to Phi Beta Kappa. He was graduated in 1930.

Amidst the pursuit of graduate study that led to an M.A. degree in history from Columbia University in 1935, Wally Watson worked throughout the 1930s as a forest ranger. Although not much of an athlete, he enjoyed physical challenge, and soon after leaving the Hill he applied to the National Park Service for a job as a temporary ranger. Assigned to the newly created Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, he continued to patrol the Tetons off and on until his marriage on April 29, 1939, to Shirley Kiernan in Newtown, CT. Soon thereafter, Wally and his bride decided to embark upon an extended South Seas voyage aboard a 62-foot schooner. They completed the daring journey in 1940. Sixty years later, at the age of 90, Wally Watson wrote his reminiscences of those adventurous days in the Tetons and on the Seas in High and Deep, which was published in 2002.

Wally Watson was employed at the Remington Arms plant in Bridgeport, CT, when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the U.S. entered World War II. He attempted to enlist in the Navy but was turned down because of poor eyesight. Instead, he engaged in civilian war work at a munitions plant in Salt Lake City, UT, and, beginning in 1944, in Oak Ridge, TN, the then secret “Atomic City,” created in wartime as part of the Manhattan Project.

There, Wally Watson became head of the materials department of Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corp. In 1960, after eight years as a general insurance agent in Oak Ridge, he entered the real estate field as a broker. In addition, from 1962 until 1976, he taught history and psychology at Oak Ridge High School. Active in numerous community organizations ranging from the Kiwanis and Elks to the Oak Ridge Dance Club and Playhouse, he also served as commander of the Oak Ridge Power Squadron.

Walcott Watson retired in 1976 and later resided in Florida and in Las Vegas, NV, where he died on August 8, 2005, at the age of 95. Predeceased by his wife and by his eldest son, Richard L. Watson, he is survived by two sons, David S. and Robert K. Watson; a daughter, Patricia Waring; and four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

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