Harriet was the oldest of 3 sisters born to Lillias and Hugh Williams. The family moved around as Hugh worked at engineering firms in DC, Northern California, and finally back to Central Florida. Harriet graduated from Winter Park High School and attend Rollins College before transferring to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta to complete her degree.
After college, she moved to Thomasville, GA where she would meet Sam Watkins. Thomas county at the time was a dry county, so when Sam asked her to “go get a drink sometime,” her response was “Yeah, right.” Sam, however, had connections and their drink turned into dinner and dinner turned into almost 51 years of marriage.
Harriet and Sam shared a love of boating, birding, and creating art. Harriet would often add the coloring and finishing touches to Sam’s bird carvings and other art projects. She loved going to the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival and collected many art pieces there and in her travels to Hawaii and California. She was looking forward to getting back into to carving birds in the new woodshop that was opening in her neighborhood.
Harriet had a varied career before finding her niche as a Technical Writer. She worked in Healthcare and Child Services in Georgia, then moved into Technical Writing once in Florida. She loved the precision needed in writing technical specifications, and she loved learning new technology and understanding how things worked. She would do math for fun. She was a terrific editor and proof reader both professionally, and for her kid’s school papers. She enjoyed landscape and home design, working to turn her basic suburban house into a gorgeous open and modern living space where she and Sam could live and work comfortably.
Retirement was spent indulging in hobbies, projects, and spoiling their four dogs, Tucker, Bogie, Ally, and Mindy. Mindy was Harriet’s heart dog, a rescued dachshund used for breeding. Harriet was grateful to give Mindy the time and space needed to adjust to being a dog and being loved, and Mindy was able to come out of her shell and thrive in Harriet’s care.
Harriet is survived by her daughter Samantha Watkins and her spouse Mark Siew, San Francisco, CA; her son Hugh Watkins and his spouse Allyssa Anderson, Orlando, FL; and her sister, Wendy Williams Marcin, Osteen, FL. She is also survived by her nieces, Megan Smalley Lopez, Mountain View, CA and Melissa Smalley Zeleznik, Pittsburg, PA. Harriet will be laid to rest at sea, in a private ceremony.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Audubon Society.
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