Harry Watson

Pastor Harry Kern Watson died Dec. 15 in Middletown, N.Y. He was 89.

Watson was born March 23, 1923, in Gantt, S.C. He spent his early years perfecting his skills as a concert pianist. He was well known in the Southeast before World War II as a classical and sacred artist on the piano and pipe organ. He was the organist at the Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco and performed on the pipe organ at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. He continued to share his gift of music for more than 70 years, performing sacred piano concerts at various churches.

He served in the U.S. Navy 1941-1945, starting as a radioman technician on blimps patrolling the East and the West Coast. He was a World War II veteran.

He then went on to spend 28 years as an engineer, inventor and author at IBM and later worked at LLNL.

From the early 1960s until only a few years ago, Watson and his wife served as missionaries in the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions of New York, working with the disadvantaged and poor and helping to build churches.

He was preceded in death by his wife of sixty years, Betty Eugenia Watson; his sister Ruth Elizabeth Watson; his son Gene's wife, Mari Ocker Watson; and two grandchildren, Sean Paul Watson and Genna SueAnne Watson.

He is survived by his three children, Anne (Penny) Watkins, Harry (Gene) Watson and James Watson; eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Watson's life will be held at New Salem Baptist Church, 62 Waverly Ave, Monticello, N.Y. on Jan 5. Memorial donations may be made in his name to the National Kidney Foundation. In addition, donations to Pastor Harry's last church, the 1st Baptist Church of Middletown, 11 Mulberry St. Middletown, N.Y. 10940, would be appreciated.

To send a condolence, visit the Ramsays Funeral Home Website.