Lucretia Stevenson Watt

Published 3:49 pm Tuesday, March 12, 2013

On  March 9, 2013 Lucretia Stevenson Watt’s final earthly wish was fulfilled when she went to be with Jesus Christ,  her Savior and Lord.  She was a 40 year resident of Hampton, Virginia.  Lucretia was born on December 11, 1928 to Dr. and Mrs. Clyde A. Stevenson, Sr. in Camilla Georgia.  She graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois in 1948.  She completed medical laboratory technology training at Emory University and worked in several hospitals in the Chicago area in the 1950s.  She felt called to the mission field under the Presbyterian Church U.S. and was sent to study at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium in 1956.  In 1957, she was sent to the Belgium Congo and was stationed at Mutoto where she instructed nursing students in the identification of tropical diseases.  After completing her 3 year term of service, she left the Congo in 1960 and met her future husband, Donald D. Watt of Thomasville Georgia at a mission retreat at Montreat, North Carolina.  She entered graduate school in microbiology at the University of Georgia while Donald was on a temporary assignment to the Congo.  They were married on September 15,  1961 and returned together to the Congo in 1962.  Their oldest daughter Frances Baillie was born there the following year.  Due to the Communist uprising in 1964, Lucretia returned with Frances to the states and completed her Master’s degree at the University of Georgia.  Donald served another year and returned in 1965.  Lucretia devoted the following 12 years raising her four children, Frances Baillie, Janet MacAlpine, Donald Diegel (Jr) and George Lindsey.  She began teaching school for the Hampton School District in 1977 but returned to her professional career of medical technology in 1980 at Louise Obici Hospital in Suffolk Virginia.  She retired in 1997.  She continued to actively support overseas missions through tithes and material support.  Lucretia is survived by her husband Donald D. Watt, Sr. of Hampton, Virginia, her daughter Frances Watt Thomas and son-in-law James Alan Thomas of King George, Virginia, her daughter Janet Watt Steele and son-in-law William B. Steele, Sr. of Fort Mill, South Carolina, her son Donald D. Watt, Jr. of Newport News, Virginia, and her brother-in-law Dr. Hansell Watt of Tallahassee, Florida.  She is also survived by her grandchildren, Kyle Wesley Thomas of Groton, Connecticut, Kate Thomas Hannick and Mary Evalina Thomas of King George, Virginia, William Beauregard Steele, Jr. and Baillie Ruth Steele of Fort Mill, South Carolina, William Alexander Watt and Lindsey Alexis Watt of Smithfield, Virginia, and Charles Lindsey Watt of Newport News, Virginia.  She recently became a great-grandmother to Natalie Hannick of King George, Virginia and Logan Thomas of Groton, Connecticut.  Lucretia is predeceased by her son George Lindsey Watt, II,  her parents, her three older brothers, Clyde Stevenson Jr, Richard Stevenson, and William Stevenson; and her sister Evalina Stevenson Hackett.  Graveside services will be held at 2 pm Thursday, March 14, at Laurel Hill Cemetery The Reverend Timothy Scoonover will officiate.  In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to be made to Calvary Chapel Lynchburg, 742 Leesville Road, Lynchburg, VA 24502 for the Giri family’s work in Nepal. Guest may sign the Register Book online at www.whiddonshiverfuneralhome.com — Whiddon-Shiver Funeral Home