James (Jimmy)  Crocker Watson, Jr..

 

JAMES CROCKER WATSON, JR. (Jimmy)

1943 — 2023

 

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — James (Jimmy)  Crocker Watson, Jr.., 79, died Saturday, June 24, 2023 after a short battle with cancer.

Visitation at Chase Funeral Home, Huntingdon, is Thursday, June 29, 5 to 7 p.m.

The funeral service is Friday, June 30 at 10 a.m. with burial to follow at Oak Hill Cemetery.

After serving his country in the Army, he returned to Huntingdon and attended the University of Tennessee at Martin. On May 10, 1969, his father and owner of Watson Lumber Company-Huntingdon died suddenly. Just twenty-six years old, Jimmy returned home to manage the family business which he continued until selling the lumber company in 2013. He was a member of First United Methodist Church of Huntingdon.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Crocker and Kathryn Watson, and a beloved sister, Kay Watson Leonard. He leaves behind a sister, Laura Watson, brother-in-law , Phil Watson and a very dear friend and companion for many years, Grace Stone. 

He loved his many friends and spent many hours riding horses with them. Winters were spent in Apache Junction, Arizona, where he was affectionately called “Tennessee Jimmy.”  He said these were some of his life's best times. 

Pallbearers are Tim Jordan, Charlie Hodges, Seth Bennett, Richard Simmons, Gary O’Brien, and Jim New.  Honorary pallbearer is Lee Butler.

The family request in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or a charity of your choice.

The Watson family was honored as the Pioneer Family of the Huntingdon Heritage Festival in 2015. 

 

Tobe and Minnie Watson moved to Huntingdon from Benton County around 1910 and began farming and carpentry.  Tobe, whose given name was William Elam, and his brother-in-law Lucian Jolly, started a business together around 1920.  The business was named Jolly and Watson Lumber Company and was located on Boundary Street, where the Town of Huntingdon Water Treatment Plant is located today and was formerly the location of the ice house.

In the late 1920s, the business split.  Tobe Watson started his own lumber company located at 114 West Paris Street, the same location where Watson Lumber Company is located today.  Mr. Jolly located his company at 122 Second Avenue and was known as Jolly Lumber Company.  This is now the location of Huntingdon Termite and Pest Control.

Tobe and Minnie had four children Otera, Ann Lou, Crocker, and Minnie Dean.   Crocker was born in 1913 in a house on Railroad Avenue, just below where the Water Treatment plant is located.  The family later moved to East Main Street across from Thomas Park, where Cash Savers Grocery is located today, and always gathered on the porch to share many stories and laughs through the years. 

Crocker married Kathryn Kimery of Greenfield, Tennessee.   Kathryn and Crocker’s sister, Ann Lou, attended college in Martin, Tennessee. Ann Lou invited Kathryn to come to Huntingdon for a weekend visit.  Little did she know at the time she was bringing home her future sister-in-law. Kathryn and Crocker were married June 14, 1939.  They had three children Kay, Jimmy, and Laura.

Crocker worked at Watson Lumber Company with his father Tobe, until his father died in 1955.  At that time Crocker took over managing the company.  He always had a desire to do more for the town he loved so much and became involved in several civic activities.  He and Kathryn were members of the First United Methodist, where he served as chairman of the church’s administrative board’s commission on finance.  He and Kathryn donated the land where the First United Methodist Church is built today.

Crocker was a charter member of the Huntingdon Rotary Club and maintained a perfect attendance record of over nineteen years serving as president for a time.  He was a member of the Huntingdon Special School District’s Board of Education and was always vitally interested in school affairs and was an ardent Mustang fan attending all Mustang football games for many years.

Crocker served as Mayor of Huntingdon from 1962 to 1968.  He was involved in getting R. J. Reynolds, now Noranda, to locate to Huntingdon. He also helped get the bypass around Huntingdon started.  During the six years he was mayor, he never took any pay for the job, saying that “he just wanted to do something for the people of Huntingdon because they had done so much for him and his family.”

Watson Lumber Company is one of the oldest businesses in Huntingdon.  Upon Crocker’s death, Kathryn and Jimmy Watson took over as owners and worked together until she died in 1986.  Jimmy continued to run the company until the business was sold to its owner, Seth Bennett, who decided to maintain the name of Watson Lumber Company.

The Watsons’ Hardware House is located at 145 Court Square - once the home of Kuhn’s Department Store for many years. Memories of the Kuhn’s store are still present in local resident’s minds and as they visit the store today, many recount shopping in the toy department which was located in the basement at that time. In the 1980s, Jimmy Watson and his mother Kathryn Watson purchased the building and opened the Hardware House, an expansion of Watson Lumber Co. They carried tools, lawn and garden equipment, electrical, plumbing and automotive supplies as well as other hardware items. In 2012 Seth and Jill Bennett purchased Watson Lumber Co. and the Hardware House and are still running the business today with the same goods and quality of service as the Watson family started over 90 years ago.