Frances Carper Waggener Watson

Frances Carper Waggener Watson, 96, passed away at the Arthur B Hodges Center on December 20, 2022. She was born on December 6, 1926, in South Charleston, WV, the youngest daughter of Samuel Clyde and Edna Richards Carper, originally from Grandview. Frances graduated from South Charleston High School, Class of ’44, and served on the X-Ray staff. She was a homemaker, worked at Union Carbide and South Charleston City Hall (Youth Employment Office and the Detective Bureau), and retired from Watson Picture Framing. She was a lifelong volunteer- from typing out books for the blind in braille to serving at the Ronald MacDonald House and Saint Francis Hospital. She was a longtime member of the Alpha Iota Business Sorority, Mu Gamma Chapter.

She grew up in Boyd Memorial Christian Church where she was a charter member and was actively involved in the transition to the current United Disciples of Christ Church.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, Charles Andrew (Andy) Waggener, second husband, Guy R. Watson, and sisters, Evelyn Carper Pierson and Pauline Carper Hill.

Frances always put others’ needs before her own and was a caring parent, grandparent, relative and friend to many. She had a great sense of humor and the grandkids’ first memories are of ice cream, watching Golden Girls, and beating her at Uno (wink-wink). As the glue of the family, she kept everyone together for birthday celebrations, holidays, and everyday life. She loved playing Canasta with her lifelong friends, having a monthly game for more than 60 years. She always had a craft project going and later took up photography-capturing wildlife scenes on her deck, traveling West Virginia country roads with Guy looking for Mail Pouch barns, and photographing sea gulls on their beach trips.

Frances is survived by her sons, John Samuel Waggener (Ronda) and Andrew Dwain Waggener (Jennifer); grandchildren, Jessica Higgs (Jon), Brittany Waggener, Scott Waggener (Kathleen) and Drew Waggener; great-grandchildren, Henley and Davis Higgs; stepdaughters, Sherry Watson Murray (Steve) and Barbara Watson Tabaretti (JW); grandchildren, Nicholas Murray (Michelle), great-grandchildren, Lilian, Kathryn and Owen Murray; and close family friends Matthew and Kim Gravely.

Special thanks to Edgewood Summit, Hospice, Care 4 U, and the caregivers that provided her with compassion in her later years and final days.

The funeral service will be at 1:00 pm on December 30, 2022, at the Tyler Mountain Funeral Home at 5233 Rocky Fork Road, in Cross Lanes. Visitation will be from 11:00 to 1:00 before the service. The service will be officiated by Rev. Steven Smith of the United Disciples of Christ Church. She will be interned among her loved ones in Tyler Mountain Memory Gardens.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests support of the United Disciples of Christ Church, Faith In Action of the Greater Kanawha Valley, and Ronald McDonald House.

Online condolences can be sent to the family at www.tylermountainfuneralhome.com