Betty Watkins: Gentle Servant to All
By Rande Davis

Friends and family joined daughters and sons-in-law, Joan and Bill Carroll and Jane and Bob Hottle to celebrate the life of Elizabeth J. Watkins on December 21 at the Poolesville Baptist Church. She passed away on December 15. Known by most as Betty, the more fortunate knew her as Mom, Aunt Betty, Miss Betty, Mrs. Titus, Mrs. Watkins, and most affectionately by her six grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren, and six great, great grandchildren as Mema (pronounced meemaw). She was also the “second mom” to Bramwell Hightman, born deaf, who after losing his dad and mother, had Betty fill in as a parent to him as a young man. She eventually became a guiding force that encouraged him to go into ministry to the deaf.
The many names and titles for Betty represent the various relationships she nurtured throughout her ninety-three years. This remarkable little lady, born nine months before the end of World War I, began life in Riner, Virginia. At the age of twelve, she had to drop out of eighth grade to help raise her siblings upon the death of her mother.
She came to the Poolesville area at sixteen where her life’s purpose of caring and nurturing all who came in contact with her grew out of simple ways and roles. For twelve years, she ran the Poolesville High School cafeteria where she was remembered for her perpetual smile and her quiet expression of support for the students. As a mother figure to many, it is not surprising that her loving sustenance often came from her talents as a cook and baker. Decades after her time at the school, her potato soup, mac and cheese, tuna fish sandwiches, and other simple home-style cooking were so fondly recalled.
Her first husband James T. Titus died in 1967, and it was during her nineteen years of running Titus’s Tasty Cupboard (now Bassett’s Restaurant) that her culinary expertise flowered and grew in reputation. Her pies (arguments still develop over lemon chocolate meringue versus cherry or pecan) were not only highly touted by locals, but even people like President Jimmy Carter, late Senator Wayne Morse, and the then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed the greatness of her talent in baking pies. It is after selling the diner when many others came to know her while working at the First National Bank and at a local dry cleaner.
Betty married Wilfred Watkins in 1972. He had three grown children with spouses that she readily adopted as her own, as he did her children, Joan and Jane. Even though Mr. Watkins died thirty-five years ago, the extended family has remained close with the Titus side even to this day, due to Betty.
She attended Memorial United Methodist Church until the opening of Poolesville Baptist Church when she returned to her religious roots.
Celebrated as a woman of great faith, it was her activities at her churches, hospice, and many other caring and giving groups for which she was best known.
A patriotic American (she kept a United States flag on her kitchen window and the phone number of the White House near the phone), she was also remembered as a person of comfort, humor, and one who loved to travel, especially to visit relatives but also more exotic places like Australia, New Zealand, the Holy Land, and Hawaii, just to mention a few.
Her feistiness and strong sense of humor (her witticisms are referred to as “Memaisms” by the family) were remembered through stories told by family and friends. One such story told how her love of driving and devotion to Chevrolet automobiles was exemplified by her begrudgingly giving up her floor-rusted 1956 green Chevy Nova for a Mercury. Just this past November, only weeks before entering the hospital, the feisty little lady was caught washing a kitchen window while standing on a ladder. When admonished as to the danger and asked what she would do if the ladder tipped, even at ninety-three, she had a simple answer: “Why, I would just jump clear.” A child of the Depression, she became the ultimate recycler. Famous for her handwritten notes on used scraps of paper, one time she left a note on the white paper covering to a wire coat hanger.
Above all else, it was her modeling of her deep and abiding faith that empowered her special gift of comfort to all around her. With a police escort worthy of a very high public official leading the way, and with bagpipes mournfully playing, she was laid to rest at Monocacy Cemetery. Once again, Poolesville has lost a grand lady and, for many, she will be recalled as she was remembered: the Princess of Poolesville.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Betty's name to the Poolesville Baptist Church, 17550 West Willard Road, Poolesville; or the Poolesville Memorial United Methodist Church, P. O. Box 358, Poolesville; or Hospice Caring, 518 South Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877.
Note: The Monocle had the privilege of interviewing Betty for an April 28, 2006 article on her life in her own words, and that tribute has been reposted on our website: www.monocleonline.com.