Robert Stuart Watts

Mrs. Robert Stuart "Bob" Watts, 72, graduated this life on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at his residence on Tinsley Lane. His body was donated to Vanderbilt Medical University for cancer research. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 4:00 P.M. Saturday, May 17, 2008 at First United Methodist Church in Columbia, Tennessee. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 1:00 - 4:00 P.M. at the church. Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, 222 West Seventh Street, Columbia, TN 38401 designated for Youth and Children Ministries and Columbia District Volunteers in Mission. Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home is in charge of local announcements. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Ottawa, Illinois native was the son of the late Philip Refior and Ada Louise Stuart Watts. He graduated from Plainfield High School in Plainfield, Illinois and The University of Illinois in the College of Commerce, 1958. He served in the U. S. Army until 1960 and was in sales and management for Proctor & Gamble, Peoria, IL; Fruehauf Trailer Company, E. Peoria, IL, New York City, NY and Cincinnati, Ohio; and Sun Life Assurance of Canada. He was an Independent Insurance Broker and worked closely with Howard Baer Trucking, Inc. in Morton, IL and Nashville, TN for 43 years. He served as leader in various church groups, Youth Groups and Boy Scouts. He went on eleven mission trips with the Columbia District Volunteers in Mission and served as Tennessee Annual Conference Columbia District Lay Leader of the United Methodist Church for five years. He was a member of District and Conference Committees and a member of Columbia First United Methodist Church. Survivors include his wife of twenty-one years, Gloria Willis Watts of Columbia; three sons, Mark Stuart (Teresa) Watts of Lexington, KY; Scott David (Karen) Watts of St. Augustine, FL; Brad (Roxanne) Rasbury of Hohenwald, TN; three daughters, Robin Watts Hammer of Clarksville, TN; April Marie Watts of Charlotte, NC; and Wendi Watts of Murfreesboro, TN; twelve grandchildren; one brother, Walter (Patricia) Watts of Chetek, Wisconsin; and one brother-in-law, Robert Watson of Lake Wylie, SC. He was preceded in death by one sister, Barbara Watson.