#Mary Nell Collier Watson

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Mary Nell Collier Watson of Dothan passed away on Thursday, February 9, 2023, at her home surrounded by family. She was 95. Ward Wilson Funeral Home will be handling the arrangements.

Services will be held on Monday, February 13, 2023 at 2 P.M. at Ward Wilson Funeral Home with Reverend Tommy Green officiating. Burial will follow in Gardens of Memory Cemetery with Ward Wilson Funeral Home directing.

Visitation will take place an hour before the service.

Mary was born on October 25, 1927, to Isaac David and Verla Lee Lambert Collier in Dothan, Alabama. She was a 1946 graduate of Dothan High School and attended Bob Jones University in Cleveland, Tennessee. In 1948, she married Jerry Frank Watson, also a Dothan native. They spent 46 years together until his death in 1994. Mary Nell accomplished so much during her life, more than she realized. As an Air Force wife, she followed her husband throughout his career and enjoyed participating in all the functions that went with it. After retiring and settling back in Dothan in 1970, she, along with her best friend, Mavis Jenkins, established the Dothan Chapter of the Retired Officers Wives Club and held the first meeting in her home. She and Jerry were very active in the Retired Officers Association. She remained an active member, and after much coaxing, continued participating in their functions after Jerry's death. Her love was Dothan First Baptist Church, where she grew up and sang with her two sisters. She was currently a member of Mt. Gilead Baptist Church. But she would tell you her greatest accomplishment was her family; the husband and four children who adored her. She loved people and especially loved babies, working as a Red Cross volunteer in pediatrics for several years at Robins AFB, GA and Ft. Rucker, AL. Her kind and gentle nature made her so easy to love in return. She will be missed greatly by those who knew her.

Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, daughter and son-in-law, Nancy Watson Adams and Danny Adams, Opelika, AL, a brother, Ike Collier, and three sisters, Martha Collier Ware, Louise Collier Hagen, and Ann Collier Glasgow.

Survivors include two daughters, Kathy Watson Boswell (Danny) and Jerrie Watson Bass (Tommy) of Dothan; son, Thomas Watson (David Pillow), Savannah, GA; four grandchildren, Amy Latta Hartzog (David), Opelika, AL, Jennifer Boswell Peaden (JD), Dothan, Courtney Boswell McQuaker (Jamie), Auburn, AL, Matthew Bass, Dothan; 10 great-grandchildren; Ann Katherine Hartzog Lovin (Jacob), Hartford, CT, Gunnar Hartzog, Montgomery, AL, Gray Hartzog, Opelika, AL, Audrey C. Hartzog, Opelika, AL, Bailey T. Peaden (Madison), Jacksonville, AL, Collier D. Peaden and Kelsey J. Peaden, Dothan, Asa J. and Luke D. McQuaker, Auburn, AL:, Jonathon Bass, Dothan, several nieces and nephews, and a daughter and granddaughter of the heart, Julie Cantu' Kircher, Daegu, S. Korea, and Tiesha Corbitt, Dothan.

Serving as pallbearers will be her grandson and great-grandsons.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or online at stjude.org/donate.