Louise G. Watson

Return to Sermons, Writing & Memoirs

1 July 1996 Memoir by Michael S. Usey Ephesians 4.32--5.2 The writer of Ephesians reminds his readers that are to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.  Ephesians is a form letter, a general epistle to all the young churches of Asia minor.  He instructs them to be kind to one another, because God in Christ has forgiven them.  In fact, the writer says, he wants them to be imitators of God--to live according to the model God provided them in Christ.  They are to live in love, as beloved children of God, exactly as Christ loved them, who gave himself up for them.  He was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  It's a noble passage, one that we all try to live up, one that would take a long life to fulfill. Perhaps if the writer of Ephesians were alive today, he might add, "In sum, live like Louise Watson did, for her long life was a fragrant offering to our God.  She was kind, tenderhearted, living out the love of God to her friends and family." A good measure of a person's life is how kindly she lived, and how she treated those around her.  For 93 years, Louise Watson loved her husband and adored her sons, never raising her voice to Jerry and Bob, even when Bob certainly deserved it.  She welcomed her daughters-in-law, and were very appreciative of them.  And she spend time with her grandsons.   Louise loved each of her grandsons in a different way.  Yesterday three of her grandsons discovered that Louise had different tradition with each of them.  One grandson remembers that she would often fry Vienna sausages for him, then they would sit together for a quiet lunch on her back porch watching that huge beautiful tree in the back yard, or a not-so-quiet lunch if Louise were talking to a cardinal or another of her favorite birds.  Another grandson recalled her baking him caramel & coconut cakes; she would say, "I'm not sure how this is going to turn out," and it be would the best cake he had ever eaten.  Then they would sit out on the front and play a game watching the cars; she would take one color, he another color, and they would see how many of each color rode by.  They sat together on the porch, talking and drinking her freshly brewed tea.  Louise was not a cookie-cutter grandmother.    Louise loved to play games, games of all sort.   She loved crossword puzzles and nobody remembers beating her at scrabble.  She created a dictionary game that taught her sons to spell so well that they were the best spellers in the class.  She loved bridge and taught all her family to play, except Barbara, whom she kindly told, "I don't think this game is for you."  She was a good Baptist cardshark.  She especially loved two games: Michigan Rummy and any game at which she could beat her husband, Pop.  She giggled with glee whenever she beat him at a game, which was often. Louise loved watching games as well.  She watched Bob play football at Greensboro High before it became Grimsley until she got so excited that she had to stay home.  She watched golf and knew the golfers by name.  She was an avid Atlanta Braves fan.  She followed the Braves faithfully; she knew the players, their walks, their personalities--everything there was to know about the Braves.  Even when she was in the hospital she watched or listened to the game, if it were possible.  As she got older, she told God that she would be happy to go on in the fall and winter, but not in spring, when baseball started.    Louise loved the sun, and possibly that is the reason she did not like the fall and winter, with their short days and lack of sun.  Her son Bob would call from Charlotte and ask her about the weather.  If she were down or the weather were overcast, she would say, "The skies are heavy laden."  But, in the dozen or so times that I visited her, I never heard Louise complain--not once--even when I knew she was in pain, she did not complain.  You can be sure that, if I live until I'm 93, I will have a lot to complain about, and will.  But Louise did not complain; she held herself with dignity and a sense of humor. In fact, her sense of humor would pop up at the most unexpected moments as the time she was in the hospital when told her son Jerry, "I can't see and I can't hear, and here I am in the hospital.  I just hope I don't have to stay until I lose something else."  And there were many times in which she didn't intend to be funny, but was.  One Sunday after church services, she was introducing a friend to the new minister; Louise said, "I want you to meet our new creature."  And the winsome part of her was that she would freely laugh right along with you.  One time her son Bob and Barbara took her to a lookout point in the mountains of North Carolina.  Bob parked the car next to another car on the brink of the lookout, and they all sat in the car admiring the view.  Then the car next to them started backing up slowly; seeing the car, Louise in the back seat had the sensation that the car was going forward.  The rest of the family was completing the peaceful view until they were scared out of their wits when Louise put her arms up and yelled, "Oh my God!  We're going over!"  The family still laughs about that one; Louise was a wonderful sport.  In Louise was the easy humor that comes from a well of inner strength.  When her husband, Pop, lost his job suddenly and unjustly, she keep the family going, with no sense of urgency or crisis, but with a calmness that was gift to her sons and her family.  She knew how to stretch a dollar, and she was an excellent seamstress.  She and Pop built their home on Walker Avenue in 1940, and she lived in 56 years.  Louise created an elegant home with little money.  And, if you knew her at all, you knew that she loved flowers and gardening.  She was a long-time member of one of the gardening clubs.  In fact, one spring a Greensboro artist did a painting of her stunning backyard, which hung at the Chamber of Commerce for some time.  She composted her tea bags and shell and clipping long before composting was cool.  She loved her dogwoods and flowers; she was a good steward of God's creation.   I for one was always impressed with Louise's mind.  Once I was visiting her in the hospital she said, "How's Nathan and Zack?  Isn't Zack about six months old now?  Are his eyes still brown?"  And I thought then, don't tell Mrs. Watson anything you don't want her to remember.  She never showed off, but she was brilliant: reciting poetry, possessing an incredible vocabulary, completing crossword puzzles and sending the rest of us scrabbling to our dictionaries.  One time I was visiting her and she said, "I don't know how my pansies will do this year; they are so pusillanimous."  I remember the word long enough to look it up to discover it meant small or cowardly.   Louise lived a life of dignity and elegance.  She was a minimalist; she didn't believe in having too much of anything--food, clothes, possessions--though she was generous with what she had.  She did not have hordes of things as is the fashion today.  For her, homemaking was an art.  She knew etiquette as it was meet to be: a natural expression of kindness to other people.  Even in death, she was thoughtful and kind: she had this service prepared; the songs, people, scripture and poem that you hear today are the ones she chose.  Louise lived life with kindness, gentleness, dignity and intelligence. And of course, she lived life with faith.  Louise Watson practiced her faith more than she talked about it.  She knew a great about the Bible; whatever scripture text you asked her about it, she knew a great deal about it.  And she believed deeply in the will of God, and God's love and kindness.  She was strong in a quiet religious way.   I shall always remember her the way she was when I first met her.  She was sitting with perfect posture in a chair in her simple but elegant living room.  She had astonishingly beautiful skin.  And, as we chatted, she talked easily about College Park, the building of her house, her flowers, and baseball.  She asked me many questions; we laughed and I heard her unique giggle, and, that afternoon, for the first of many times, I saw her wonderful smile: mischievous and kind.  I shall always remember Louise's smile, for it had something of the kindness of God reflected in it.

College Park Baptist Church 1601 Walker Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27403 cpbcgbo@bellsouth.net 336.273.1779