Ann Boyles Watson

Ann Boyles Watson, 78, of Tulsa died December 10, 2018. She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Ruth Dye Boyles of Hundred, WV and Richard Hamilton Boyles of Pittsburgh. Ann grew up in Pittsburgh and spent the majority of her childhood in a 100-year-old log cabin with her younger sister, Dot. When she was only 11, her father died in a single engine plane crash while hunting in Canada leaving her mother, a remarkably well educated and civic minded woman, as head of the household. Ann inherited much of her mother’s strength of will. Ann attended Aspinwall High School followed by two years at Bethany College in West Virginia. In April of1963 she married James G. Watson, a romantic young man with little to offer other than inexhaustible love. Ann reciprocated. Within two years two sons were born: Billy and Ricky Watson. Ann moved with her family to Tulsa, OK in August of 1969 where she and Jim fell in love with the community and proudly referred to themselves as Okies. Ann’s primary interests and activities centered on her husband, children and friends. She was a lover of the beach, particularly Summerhaven, a relatively wild and undeveloped stretch of barrier island in NE Florida. She was very involved with the University of Tulsa, where Jim was a professor for 41 years, and the schools attended by her sons. Ann loved her neighbors and neighborhood and participated in creating The Swan Lake Neighborhood Association. She was a volunteer at the Tulsa Psychiatric Center for 30 years. In 1975 she obtained her real estate license, in part to help pay for her sons’ high school tuition and in part to further explore her community. In 2008 Ann was graduated from Class 6 of the Linnaeus Teaching Garden at Woodward Park. The Linnaeus Garden became her second home. Ann was predeceased by her parents and her husband of 47 years, Jim. Ann is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law, Bill and Julia Watson of Tulsa and Rick and Cyndee Watson of Austin, Texas. She is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Dotty and Nick Beckwith, sister-in-law, Kate MacVean, all of Pittsburgh; sister-in-law Debra Watson of Charlottesville, VA; and grandchildren, Natty, Ruthie, Jim and Judy, all of Tulsa, and Lauren Rose, of Austin. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to either the Linnaeus Garden c/o Tulsa Garden Center, 2435 S. Peoria, Tulsa, OK 74114 (https://www.tulsagardencenter.org/annual-fund) or the James G. Watson Endowed Professorship of English at The University of Tulsa, 800 S. Tucker Drive, Tulsa OK 74104. A memorial service will be held to celebrate Ann's life at 1 p.m., Saturday, January 5, 2019, at the Tulsa Historical Society Travis Mansion, 2445 S. Peoria, Tulsa, OK 74114. Fitzgerald Ivy Chapel, 918-585-1151

Ann Boyles Watson

December 13, 1940 - December 10, 2018