MATTIE L. WATKINS

Wasilla resident Mrs. Mattie L. Watkins, 86, died at home of natural causes Dec. 23, 2003.

A memorial service will be held Jan. 6 at Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant Church, Mile 7 Palmer-Wasilla Highway in Wasilla, at 7 p.m. Pastor Tom Luchsinger will officiate. Mrs. Watkins will be buried at Floral Hills Cemetery in Lynnwood, Wash.

Mrs. Watkins was born Nov. 22, 1917, in Clarendon, Texas.

She was a retired registered nurse.

Mrs. Watkins served in the U.S. Army in 1945 in the Army Nurse Corps.

She became a resident of Alaska in 1952. From 1952 to 1957, she lived in Moose Pass, Kenai and Anchorage. From 1968 to 1973 she lived in Delta Junction and Anchorage and in 1992 she moved to Palmer.

Mrs. Watkins worked at the Alaska Native Medical Center from 1955 to 1957. From 1958 to 1967 she worked at Atascadero General Hospital in California. From 1968 to 1970, she resumed her work at Alaska Native Medical Center, from whence she retired.

Her family wrote, "She had a very adventurous spirit. She moved away from home in Texas to attend nurse's training at 17 and took her first job in Turlock, Calif. She drove to Alaska in 1952. She loved her children and grandchildren and will be missed by all who knew her."

Mrs. Watkins was preceded in death by her husband James C. Watkins and step-daughter Delores Shedden.

She is survived by her son Jerry Watkins of Marysville, Wash.; daughter Shirley Perryman of Palmer; granddaughters Lorene Olsen of Sonora, Calif., Tamara Harvey of Roseville, Calif., and Michelle McKenzie of Hubert, N.C.; grandsons Marty Sanders of Wasilla, Lane Sanders of Oklahoma City, Okla., Billy Shedden of Yucaipa, Calif., and Matthew Perryman of Palmer.

Memorial donations may be sent to Alzheimer's Resource Agency of Alaska, 1700 Abbot Road, Anchorage, AK 99507, or to American Heart Association, 1057 Fireweed Lane, Suite 100, Anchorage, AK 99508.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.