Grace Mae Watson's Obituary
Grace Mae Watson
Mc Daniel: Grace Mae Watson, longtime resident of McDaniel, MD died Friday evening, February 11, 2011 at the Memorial Hospital, Easton. She was 88.
Grace was born in Middletown, MD on September 12, 1922 to Earl McKinley Kepler and Amy Catherine Gladhill Kepler. She graduated from Middletown High School class of 1939 and then attended the Convent School in Frederick, MD. She went on to receive her nursing degree from Frederick Memorial Hospital where she then practiced and taught nursing. In the late 1940’s she went to work at Fort Detrick, MD.
In the early 1950’s she met G. Taylor Watson of Delta, PA through her brother-in-law Benjamin P. Tobin, who was Taylor’s boyhood friend. Grace and Taylor were married September 12, 1954 and settled in Havre do Grace, MD where they both worked at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. They kept a boat in the Yacht Basin, and for the rest of their lives, they always lived near the water and enjoyed boating.
In the early 1960’s, Taylor accepted a job at Frankfort Arsenal in Philadelphia, PA and they resided in Riverton, NJ.
Having purchased property on the Eastern shore of MD in the mid 1960’s, by 1973, they had built a home on Harris Creek in McDaniel where they spent an active retirement centered around their friends and family. Their nieces and nephews were the focal points of their lives. Grace was a very involved member of St. Luke’s Methodist church in St. Michael’s. She was proud of her involvement in the scholarship committee and various women’s committees. She was a hospice caregiver, volunteered for the American Cancer Society, worked for the Red Cross Blood Drives and belonged to the Talbot County Homemakers.
Her interests included gardening and floral arrangements and she was an avid reader and keen bridge player. Grace loved to travel. She and her sister Rachel took numerous trips to Europe and the Mediterranean in addition to attending Elderhostel’s around the USA. She also traveled in Great Britain and Ireland with her sister Ruth and nieces Kathy and Loretta Thornhill. She enjoyed trips to Florida to visit her brother Paul.
She was very supportive of her husband’s passion for the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America. Together they organized the first reunion in 1976 of the USS Harding and were the mainstays of the annual gathering until Taylor’s death in 2007. They were married for 53 years.
In addition to her husband, she was predeceased by her parents, her sisters, Rachel Tobin of Bel Air, Ruth Thornhill of Funkstown, Dr. Atlee C. Kepler of Hagerstown and her beloved nephew, Michael J. Kepler of Westminster.
She is survived by her brother Paul E. Kepler of Leesburg, FL and McDaniel, MD; Her sisters-in-law Annabelle Kepler of Hagerstown, MD; Nancy Watson of Delta, PA and Dorothy Watson Satterfield of Delta, PA; numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, God-daughter, Anne Fout of Frederick, MD and many children and adults who lovingly called her Aunt Grace.
The family wishes to thank her companions/caregivers Tanya Gibson, Drucilla Barnett, Lorita Johnson and most especially Ms. Karen Bolding and Mrs. Debbie Murray for their compassionate care during the last year of Grace’s life. Karen and Debbie were her angels here on earth.
Funeral services will be held at 1:00PM on Monday, February 14, 2011 at St. Luke’s Methodist church in St. Michael’s where friends may call from noon until 1ooPM followed by a gathering at Chesapeake Landing.
Arrangements are by the Hurley & Ostrowski Funeral Home P.A. of St. Michaels
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