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Dickerson R. Watkins, a resident of Albuquerque, died Tuesday, June 19, 2007. He was born November 7, 1923 in Santa Rita, NM, a small mining community, no longer in existence. Those born in Santa Rita are now referred to as having "been born in space." The family moved to Santa Barbara, Chihuahua in the Republic of Mexico in 1924, and lived throughout Mexico for thirty years. Mr. Watkins attended high school at Texas Military Institute boarding school in San Antonio, Texas. After one year of college at Texas A & M, he enlisted in the Navy in 1942, and served in the 7th Battalion USNC (Seabees). He served in the Aleutian Islands and on the Island of Okinawa and was discharged from the Navy in 1946. Returning from the war he entered the University of Texas where he met and married Winifred I. Varnon. Upon graduation from college in 1949 with a degree in Petroleum Geology, he returned to Mexico where he spent eight years with a British company in San Francisco del Oro, Chihuahua. Due to lack of facilities to educate his four children in San Francisco del Oro, the family returned to the United States where Dick worked for several years in the potash mines of Carlsbad, New Mexico, later, starting his own mining supply business in Albuquerque. Mr. Watkins retired at age 66, petitioned Masonic Albuquerque Lodge No. 60 and served as Master and Secretary of his Lodge. He belonged to the Albuquerque York Rite bodies and served as Grand Commander and Grand Master, Secretary, Recorder, and Treasurer. He was serving as Grand High Priest at the time of his death. He was a member of the Ballut Abyad Shrine, Scottish Rite, Desert Rose Chapter No. 70 of Eastern Star, and served as Master of Albuquerque Memorial Lodge No. 1. He served as Governor in the New Mexico York Rite College No. 145 and received the Order of the Purple Cross. He was Intendant General for the Red Cross of Constantine for the State of New Mexico and was currently serving as Secretary, Recorder, and Registrar for six various York Rite bodies. Mr. Watkins was a member of St. Luke Lutheran Church and a volunteer blood donor for over 60 years, having donated over 20 gallons of blood during his lifetime. He is survived by his wife, Win, with whom he celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on April 10, 2007, his children, Diane Murray and her husband, Richard, of California; Cynthia Lee and her husband, Bruce, of Phoenix; Cory Watkins of Denver; and adopted son, David, of Albuquerque; brother, Larry M. Watkins and his wife, Martha, of Arizona; their four sons; a niece, Pam; two granddaughters; and two step-grandsons. Mr. Watkins was preceded in death by his son, Dickerson R. Watkins III, of Albuquerque. Memorial Services will be held Saturday, June 23, 2007, 11:00 a.m., at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 9100 Menaul Blvd. NE. French Mortuary 1111 University Blvd. NE (505) 843-6333 www.frenchmortuary.com
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