Jeannette Mary Watson 1935 - 2019

WATSON, KENT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 2/14/2020 at 01:17:34

Sioux City Journal
16 October 2019

Aurora, Colo. formerly Sioux City

Jeannette Mary Watson, 84, died Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, in Aurora, Colo.

A wake will be from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Horan and McConaty, 1091 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver. A funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday, at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Denver. A reception will follow at noon at Horan and McConaty, 11150 E. Dartmouth Ave., in Aurora, Colo.

Born Jeannette Mary Kent in Newcastle, Neb., on July 27, 1935, Jeannette grew up in the tiny town of Jefferson, S.D., and was the oldest of nine children. A former Miss Sioux City Sue beauty queen, she was nicknamed "Red" because of the color of her beautiful hair. She met her husband, Art Watson, at Bishop Heelan Catholic High School, in Sioux City, and they married in 1957.

After spending her childhood working in her father's drug store, she became a pharmacist, graduating from South Dakota State University at the top of her class. She and Art, who also was a pharmacist, moved to Colorado, where they would raise their five children in Denver and later Fort Collins. Jeannette worked at St. Joseph's Elementary School and Ron's Pharmacy in Fort Collins before they moved back to the Denver area to be near their grandchildren. After retiring from Rite Aid, Jeannette devoted herself to her life's passions, playing the piano, listening to jazz, reading books, decorating, gardening, learning Spanish and traveling the globe. She also volunteered as an English as a Second Language teacher for immigrant adults.

She was a lifelong learner but above all an incredible mom and grandma, who never hesitated to drop everything to spend time with her children and grandchildren.

She is survived by her five children, daughter Kelly Stout and her husband, Chuck Stout of Denver; daughter Lisa Schafer and her husband, Dan Schafer of San Diego; daughter Betsy DeMarco of Hamden, Conn.; son Michael Watson and his wife, Maria Watson of Denver; and daughter Julie Watson and her husband, Greg Bull of San Diego; and nine grandchildren, Ben and Adam Schafer, Nicholas and Alex DeMarco, Carolyn Stout, Christian and Russell Watson and Fiona and Anika Bull. Other survivors include her eight siblings, Francis Kent, Allen Kent, Edward Kent, Carole Murphy, Eugene Kent, Norma Stohr, Terry Welk and Jone Kent.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Art; their infant son, Christopher Kent Watson; and her parents, John P. Kent and Genevieve Kent, of Jefferson, S.D.