Watson D. Romaine

Romaine DeVon WatsonDecember 14, 1917-July 20, 2008A memorial service for long-time local resident Romaine Watson will be held on Saturday, June 27. Visitation will be at the Rodenberger Funeral Home, 133 E. Maple St. from 11 AM - 1PM, and a service will be held at 1 PM. The service will be followed by inurnment at Woodlawn Cemetery. A luncheon will be offered afterward at approximately 2:30 P.M. at the United Methodist church directly across from the funeral home. Romaine Watson, a long-time Deshler resident and a former biology teacher at Deshler High School, died on July 20, 2008 at Hialeah Hospital in Miami, Florida after a series of complications following a stroke in May 2007, while residing in the Fair Havens Center in Miami Springs, Florida. She was born on December 14, 1917 in Deshler to the late A. G. T. and Ethel Egbert Monthaven. She graduated from Deshler High School (where she was known as “Butch”) in 1935 and in 1940 from The Ohio State University, where she was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She also received a M.Ed. degree from Bowling Green State University in 1976. She was married to John Warren Watson in June 1942 until his death on December 17, 1965, and had remained a widow. In 1967 she moved to Findlay and taught biology and health education classes at Findlay High School until 1980, when she retired to her apartment on Marco Island, Florida. Here she spent many hours enjoying the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, walking on the beach and collecting shells, playing tennis, visiting its parks, and in her later years, painting. A major interest was conservation of natural resources. Her truly favorite activity, however, was traveling. In 1988 and 1998 she drove her Ford van out west, and “camped” in it while visiting national parks ranging from the Grand Canyon in Arizona to Death Valley in California to Glacier in Montana. She also lived in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1984-1985. In all her travels she insisted on displaying her independence and sense of adventure, and the wilder the country, the freer she felt, but she was also quite safety-conscious. She is survived by her three sons, Brant D. of Miami Beach, Florida; John A. of Miami, Florida; and Richard E. of Mill Creek, Indiana; a niece, Marilyn Castle, a grandniece, Theresa, and her husband Ron Ramirez, all of Melbourne, Florida; a nephew Russell A. and his wife Kay of Deshler, grandnephew Bradley and his wife Jennifer of Maineville, Ohio; and cousins Betty Moore of Austin, Texas and Ransom S. Bill, Jr. of Houston, Texas. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Etheliene and brother-in-law Russell Yantz, and her husband John. Memorial services will be held on Marco Island and in Deshler at later dates. The Florida Mortuary Funeral and Cremation Services in Miami, Florida has been responsible for immediate arrangements, which included a donation to the Brain Endowment Bank at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Inurnment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery in Deshler.

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Watson D. Romaine

June 26, 2009