Robert Wallace Watts

Robert Wallace Watts died at Ave Maria Village in Jamestown, ND, on February 26th, 2011.

Robert was born on October 15th, 1923, in Barnes City, Iowa, to Kenneth Watts and Bertha Elizabeth Watts (Wallace). He was the oldest of three sons (Robert, Dale, and Wayne). When Robert was one year old, the family moved to New Sharon, Iowa. He recounted fond childhood memories of small town life: lying in the back yard in the silence of summer nights watching shooting stars, decorating the Christmas tree with crepe paper ropes and popcorn strings, eating handfuls of vine-ripened grapes from the arbor in the backyard, walking on home-made stilts, and watching his mother can fruit and vegetables. When old enough, along with his studies, Robert worked with his father at the local produce station where farmers brought their cream, eggs, and poultry.

While attending college, Robert met and married Lois Eaton Weed, and they enjoyed sixty-four years of life together. Robert served in the U.S. Army in 1944 and 1945. During this time, he and Lois lived in Denver, Colorado; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Killeen, Texas; Neosho, Missouri; and Red Bank, New Jersey. They then returned to Iowa where their two sons, Kenneth and Gary, were born. Having earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, Robert pursued a career in education, first teaching high school, and later serving as a principal and a superintendant of schools in Iowa. He then accepted a position with IBM and moved with the family to New York. In 1961, the family moved to Los Angeles, where they would live for the next twenty-three years.

Robert was a man of many talents and interests. He was a perfectionist by nature, and everything he attempted, he did well. He earned a pilot’s license for single-engine planes, was an amateur radio operator who built his own radios, loved wood-working, and in later life took up wood carving, lapidary, and jewelry making. But his primary passion was connected to his work with IBM where he taught computer operating systems and programming. This vocation became his avocation as well. Robert built his own personal home computer before such machines were popular, and as their popularity grew, assisted all those around him with their use. After his retirement, one could frequently find him at his computer keyboard, writing programs to balance checkbooks, maintain addresses, or display family photos. But above all, Robert was a family man who dedicated his talent and treasure to supporting and caring for his wife and sons.

Following retirement in 1984, Robert and Lois moved to Salem, Oregon, where they lived until 2007 when they moved to Jamestown, North Dakota, to be near family. Robert was preceded in death by his wife, Lois. He will be laid to rest by his wife in Simpson Cemetery on River Road, Brunswick, Maine. He is survived by his sons, Kenneth (Virginia), Northridge, CA, and Gary (Myra), Jamestown, ND, five grandchildren (Jonathan, Heather, Julie, Aaron, and Jacqueline) and three great-grandchildren (Gwendolyn, Hannah, and Sawyer), and by his brothers, Dale (Pat) and Wayne (Joan).

A memorial service will be held in June in Iowa where Robert grew up.

Arrangements with Eddy Funeral Home, Jamestown, ND.