DATE: Wednesday, July 23, 1997              TAG: 9707230399

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

DATELINE: FRANKLIN                          LENGTH:   32 lines

REBECCA KAY WATSON

Mary Rebecca Kay Watson, 87, of 1401 N. High Street, died in Southampton Memorial Hospital on July 21, 1997, after a brief illness.

She was born May 23, 1910, in Richmond, the daughter of Aladdin Campbell Kay and Mary Belle Jordan Kay. She graduated from John Marshall High School. In 1929 she married Rev. Wilkes B. Watson and they served together at churches in New York and Illinois before they returned to Virginia. Since the 1930s, they have served the Black Creek Baptist Church in Southampton County; Baptist churches in Chesapeake, Goochland County and Accomack County; and Clark Presbyterian Church in Daughtery, Va. The Watsons lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for many years. Mrs. Watson was an active member of the Accomac/Northampton Womans Club and served as its president during the 1970s. She was a talented pianist until her eyesight failed.

She is survived by her husband of 67 years, Wilkes Bowen Watson of Franklin; two daughters, Joanne W. Percy of Georgetown, Texas, and LaVerne W. Edwards of Smithfield, Va.; a son-in-law, Robert B. Edwards of Smithfield; a son and daughter-in-law, Allen and Nancy Watson of Hennepin, Ill.; a sister, Helen Kay Yates of Mechanicsville, Va.; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and two great-great grandchildren.

The family will receive friends at The Village at Woods Edge on Thursday from 6 to 7:30 pm. A graveside service will be conducted by Lilliston Funeral Chapels of Accomac, Va., at Edge Hill Cemetery on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Rev. William Plank will officiate. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Association for the Preservation of Locustville Academy, c/o Mrs. Betty Kerns, Locustville, Va. 23404, or to a charity of one's choice. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

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