By Staff
DURHAM — Matilda Margaret “Madge” Jarvis Watson, 89, died Sunday, May 27, 2007, at her home at 5472 N. Roxboro Road, Durham, NC 27712.
A graduate of the Watts School of Nursing, she worked as a nurse and public health nurse. She earned the title of Life Master in Duplicate Bridge and loved to fish and to travel, once taking a trip around the world. From an early age, she exhibited a talent for music. She played piano at her family’s church near Bath, NC, and, as an adult, for Mt. Sylvan United Methodist Church in Durham. Her grandfather, William Jarvis, taught her to play the harmonica — something she continued to do in the last year of her life — often before an appreciative audience at the Community Life Adult Day Health Center in Durham.
She was a hat woman, rarely seen in public or at home without one of her many hats.
She is survived by her two daughters, Jo Watson Fisher and Susan Watson Broili, of the home; grandchildren, Tiffany Broili, Alison Brown and Kyle Fisher, and great-grandchildren, Tyler Brown and Cooper Brown; two nieces: Esther Jarvis Liscum and Polly Jarvis Champion; six nephews: Glyn Jarvis, Ralph E. Jarvis, Sam Jarvis, Billy Jarvis, Larry Jarvis and Alvin Jarvis.
She was predeceased in death by her husband, Joseph LaRue Watson, of Durham.
Her graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 15 at North Creek Church between Bath and Belhaven, followed by a celebration of her life at River Forest Manor in Belhaven in Beaufort County where she was born near Bath on Aug. 31, 1917.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mrs. Watson’s memory may be made to the Eastern NC Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, 400 Oberlin Road, Suite 220, Raleigh, NC 27605 (www.alznc.org for online donations) or to Duke Hospice, 4321 Medical Park Drive, Suite 101, Durham, NC 27704 (form online at www.dhch.dukehealth.org.)
Arrangements by Bryan Funeral Service, Swan Quarter.
Paid Obituary