This family has a thing for being born on a holiday. Jessie Ann was born on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1950. Joseph Warren (Joe) was born on Labor Day, September 7, 1952. Lloyd Albert was born on New Years Day January 1, 1954. Joe's son, John Warren, was born on Independence Day July 4, 1982.
Elmeda Bell & Warren Lloyd Elder married on Valentines Day, February 14, 1948. Their son Lowell Ray married (Rebecca) Diane Beauchamp on May 29, 1983, Memorial Day.
Elmeda Elder
I remember two weeks before Carol got married in June, Dad (Pete), Mom (JoAnn), Carol, Louis, myself & the other kids went to Holly, Colorado to see Roy, Terry & Steve at the Miller farm. We visited & went swimming in an icy cold lake at Two Buttes. It was a chilly experience. That is the only time I remember all of us kids of Petes being together at one time & we haven't all been together since. That was in 1970, Kelly wasn't very old (she was two) at that time. Carol has been married 22 years as of last June 5th. Good luck sis on the next 22 years.
Bobby Lee Watts
This edition of "Watts News" has been brought to you by you! No doubt about it. Without these interesting stories of "Remember when...." & comments on past Reunions, I wouldn't be able to put together this kind of a newsletter. The stories that I have seen come my way have been unique.
This makes the seventh edition to hit the mail boxes. Although most of the letters I send out go to Oklahoma & Texas (that's where most of us are) some copies do drift around the country.
The questionaire I sent out didn't seem to get noticed (Please refer to "HELP!" pg5). Bobby Lee & Kenneth Dale are the only two who have returned them. I wonder if the form in question didn't wander off into the trash can (surely not). Also, I didn't get any response to the suggestion of stories on the grandchil-dren. Levi loved the two stories I wrote with him in it. He wanted me to read & reread them to him ("When are we gonna get there?" pg16 & "Watts Meet, Take 2" pg17). It wouldn't have to be elaborate or professional. I think it would mean more to the kids if they knew the author anyway!
The enclosure this quarter is a rerun of the family listing. I've truncated it to the descendants of Richard Albert Sr. & Sallie (Cates) Watts to increase the size of the lettering (no changes were made in this area anyway). Note that I have been getting responses to more detailed information on each member of the family. The listing is looking more complete.
Also, I've placed a # by each name that I am sending copies to. Again, please forward all address changes to me at the address given above the family motto. It is disheartening to have a letter come back to me where a forwarding address hasn't been left with the post office. Not only does it cost an additional stamp to resend it to the appropriate address when I get it (actually, this is a petty excuse) the copy of the letter doesn't get there in a timely manner either.
About the three month calender that I had inserted last quarter, I got to thinking it takes up a lot of space for what little information it has on it. The descendants listing (insert) is more compact (although I wouldn't want to run it every issue). What do you guys and gals think?
This may sound trivial but I think it would be interesting to have an article on occupations. The story about my dad was a special case in that I had the opportunity to sit down and listen to him and put it in writing (see "From Plumber to Pumper" on page 9). I did have him look it over to be sure I had the facts straight.
This could become a quarterly column in which some person gets to be in the spot light. Uncle Dale mentioned off-shore fishing that some how didn't get put into print. I wasn't sure if he was just telling me or if he wanted the family to know. Dale? I am open to suggestions.
Roy A. Watts
Did Bruce eat that fly with cream or brown gravy? I prefer mine with a sweet & sour sauce. You can also use tooth picks as skewers & make minature kabobs. It would be the talk of the party. A lot of families have published their favorite recipes in a family cookbook but I believe that we could publish a bestseller, 101 Fly Recipes.
Lowell Ray Elder
The puzzles that appear in "Watts News" (in case you didn't know) are of my own creation. I have compiled a book of a variety of puzzles and had originally wanted to call it "The Puzzler" but later decided on "Puzzles Galore". I found this drawing of a man who looked some-what puzzled in a clipart catalog and placed him on the front of my first edition of puzzles with a date of March 11, 1989. Ok, so I was thirty that day what can I say?
The puzzles that appear in the magazine are mazes, crosswords,  fillins, wordfinds and lad- dergrams (several which have appeared in the family paper). There are six puzzles of each, thirty in all and I have been asking for $1.25. If anyone is interested, I could take requests and bring them to the next family reunion.
A second edition has yet to be begun as other priorities occupy most of my time (namely school). I would however like to continue this as a hobby (the extra income would be nice too).
At first I was a bit concerned about occupying so much space in the newsletter. Especially since I didn't get any responses as to whe-ther you guys liked them or not. I was confronted at the family reunion by a few of you wondering what had happened to them and that was enough to get me going again.
Some of my puzzles have been published in various magazines although most of these were donated free of charge. Veteran's Voice has published three of the wordfinds found in past issues of the family letter awarding me ten dollars for each.
The Veterans Volunteers helped me get the States name find and Capitols name find dis tributed to gradeschools all over the country (free of charge). I thought it would be a unique learning tool for the kids.
USC Today, a collegiate publication at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo, published nine crosswords but didn't have funds to offer any payment. I've talked to the editors at Colorado State University here in Fort Collins and they want a years worth before they'd consider (that's 160 crosswords). This quarters puzzle I took time out to put together for the family. It's the first of many to come (hopefully) pertaining to the family. I have a lot of ideas. It's just a matter of time of getting them all down. Great grandkids are next so please get their middle names to me if I don't already have them (ie check the listing).
Please feel free to reproduce these for yourselves. One issue doesn't necessarily always make it around to every individual in a household before all the puzzles are solved.
Roy A. Watts
Amy Lou
Jeannie
Barbara Kay
Bobby Lee
Bruce Dwain
Carol Rae
Gailia Marie
Jerry Bob
Jessie Ann |
Joseph Warren
Karen Daye
Linda Sue
Lloyd Albert
Lorretta Flo
Louis Gene
Lowell Ray
Mikel Ann (Kelly) |
Nancy
Paul Steven
Richie (Richard)
Roger Lewis
Roy Albert
Russel Erwin
Sharon
Terry Keith
William Lane |
H K E F P U G F L J O K D A T W M L N X
B Q E J O N S G E N M H I N B Q K Y P Y
A I L L E R M E P L O J N C S S V O R A
R O Y T W B I M N G I K F P T R E J Q R
B M B D U X K H E X A Y C R T U A S T L
A Y B M B V E Z R B C D W A A S I H U L
R C O Z C I L V R N U R I D W S B A S E
A L B A H H A S A T W Y L G A E G R I W
K K J C M U N N W Q O P L E D L F O J O
A E I F I X N A H G K M I N R L X N M L
Y R L T Z V C H P I L J A Y A E P R L F
N L S W B D N F E B Z N M C H R Z O Q A
R P I J Y A E Y S D E J L A C W T Y W T
E H E N M O V C O X V E A S I I V A X T
F A K I D R E W J M I R N Y R N A L G E
L G R N P A T S E R U R E C F D E B N R
U Q S L Z W S M R A P N Y Y K F O L D E F O
T E X V O C L U L O M N T Q B A L I G J S I G R H L
Y G B D B R U C E D W A I N O L O D R M J H E M D S N T P R
F K I M P N A R X K I N D I J G B N T S X U W M I T C H I C
A H L O S U P C J L P C J E S S I E A N N W B U K V Q T X S
T E R R Y K E I T H Q E B F H K R Q Y V Z O Z D T K W U
J T Q W Z A I U R V T R E B L A D Y O L L B N U D N
V R O G E R L E W I S I K P E D A I C A R L
Y C E B H S X A Y O A C H F X Q R O
A G F D W T Z N G Y A P Z G |
Names appear forward, backward, up, down and diagonally. Those names in parenthesis do not appear in the puzzle. I would like to put one together of Great Grandchildren (ie is the list complete?
In a previous article I had mentioned working for the Army Corps of Engineers in Colorado Springs (see "Civil Engineer" pg 17). It was a temporary job between my Sophmore and Junior years in college. While I was there, Levi was with me. He was impressed with the size of the town.
In Colorado Springs, there are many places to visit. We went out to Garden of the Gods which appeared to have kissing camels carved into the top of one hill (it's a pretty sight at dusk silouhetted by the sunset). At night they have the "camels" lit up from below.
On father's day we went to the dog races for a couple of hours. Every race the make shift rabbit would come barreling around the track and before they would let the dogs loose the anouncer would say "Heeeeere's Rocky!" Levi cheered Rocky on while everyone else cheered for the dogs.
Next came the waterslide. I had never been on one before and took Levi down the fast slide. It shook him up a little and after awhile I managed to talk him into going down the slow one with me. After a few trips up the stairs and down the slide Levi informed me that he didn't want to slide anymore.
The fourth of July display was quite the sight to see. We had one of the best seats in the house. Actually, we were out on a lawn in a park next to Prospect Lake but, nonetheless we were under the spectacular event. "Kowa bunga" and "Wipe out" were repeated time and time again when Levi would see a starburst. I later learned it was the best display Colorado Springs had ever had.
Levi's become quite a hitter. At one of the numerous ball parks in C/S, I'd pitch the ball to him and nine times out of ten he'd hit it. Here a few weeks ago when I was telling his cousin Matt how well he did, Levi prompted that I was a good pitcher explaining why he could hit it so well. That made me feel pretty good.
I had Levi point out Pike's Peak for you. This is the view I had every morning when I left for work. Cheyenne Mountain can be seen as well from this point off to the south (left of Pikes Peak in the photo).
On the way home, Levi made it very clear to me "Dad, you can call me son, you can call me Lee and you can call me Levi, but please don't call me squirt!" I complied. In case it isn't totally obvious, I am proud of him. I guess all fathers are that way.
Roy A. Watts
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