Harold “Butch” Watkins

Harold “Butch” William Watkins quietly departed this world Wednesday January 4th after a long battle with pain and illness and is finally resting easy. His last evening was spent with his beloved wife of 46 years just enjoying each other’s company.

Butch was born in Ocean Port, New Jersey and grew up with a military family and lived in such places as the Swiss Alps in Austria, Germany, Missouri and Lawton, OK with his three brothers and sister. He grew up with family of jokesters with storytelling as a Watkins’ family trait. Those stories were more than likely told and made while taking one of many fishing trips with their father. With the family travels and adventures there were a lot of stories to go around. He spent 4 years in the U.S. Air Force serving in Vietnam and later met his wife Bobbie in Houston, TX in 1970 while working as supply clerk. Shortly after he began working as an accountant at an oil company and later took his skills to a defense industry company and transferred to Lawton, OK and finally to Grand Prairie, TX. Butch retired 6 years ago and spent his time with family cracking jokes and watching the stock market. He was a respected financial advice giver among family and friends.

Butch was a dedicated husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend to all he encountered and will be dearly missed.
Although our hearts are heavy, we are so blessed to have laughed at his jokes and funny stories, experienced his financial lectures, and enjoyed his sense of humor. We will always long for one more story, one more mischievous chuckle, one more conversation, but we are comforted to know he is no longer in pain.

Survived by: wife: Barbara “Bobbie” Marie Watkins, children: James Womack (Mary), Angela Marie Shelman (Kris), and Michael Jeffrey Watkins (Amanda), grandchildren: Kaden and Kinzie Shelman, Cheyenne and Jacobi Watkins, and Faith Womack. Siblings: Gary Watkins. Preceded in death by: parents: Alice Cynthia Watkins, Harold Oscar “Hap” Watkins, siblings: Bob Watkins, Patricia McCorkle, and David Eugene Watkins.