Lila Watson

Funeral services for Lila R. Watson, of Orlando, Florida, formerly of Hancock, MN, will be held on Saturday, December 9, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at the Apostolic Christian Church, rural Morris.  Apostolic Christian Church Ministers will be officiating.  Visitation will be Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris and for one hour prior to services at the church on Saturday.  Burial will be in the Apostolic Christian Church Cemetery, rural Morris.

Lila Ricka Watson was born on October 31, 1927 to parents John and Bertha (Spohr) Goll in Hancock, Minnesota. She was raised on a farm near Hancock where she attended country school and then went on to graduate at Hancock High School.  After high school, she began her career in banking at Hancock State Bank.  She later moved to Willmar where she also worked for a bank.  Lila moved to California to stay with her Aunt Rose; she continued banking while there.  On July 8, 1951, Lila was united in marriage to Richard Watson.  They moved to several locations while Richard was stationed in the United States Marine Corps.  Once Richard’s time in the service was done, they moved back to the local Hancock area where they settled in and eventually bought a farm.  This is where they started and raised their family, to this union, three children were born: Bonnie, Bob, Barry.  Lila was employed by the University of Minnesota, Morris, in the Counseling Department until her retirement in 1992.  Following her retirement, they became snow birds; enjoying six months in Orlando, Florida and six months on the farm in Hancock.  In September 2012; after 20 years of traveling back and forth, Lila and Richard made a permanent move to Orlando, due to health reasons and also to be closer to their children and grandchildren.  They were baptized into the Apostolic Church on November 18, 2015.

Lila loved the outdoors and certainly enjoyed her garden along with beautiful flowers.  She loved to clean up any little pile of leaves and twigs outside and found enjoyment in planting trees and flowers around the farm site.   Through her work at the University, Lila enjoyed helping young people to find a passion in what they wanted to do in life.  Some of Lila’s favorite pastimes were doing word search games, watching and feeding the birds, reading the bible, and enjoying visits with her family and friends. Lila each day reminded her family of the wonderful world that we lived in along with her love of the Lord; her strong faith was evident in everything she did and enjoyed.  Lila will be remembered for her beautiful smile and a twinkle in her eye and her soft spoken but wise voice and words of encouragement for all.

After a brief hospital stay surrounded by her loving family, Lila died on Friday, November 24, 2017 at the Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando, Florida.  She was 90 years of age.

Lila is survived by her husband of 66 years, Richard of Orlando; children: Bonnie Watson, Robert Watson and Barry (Becky) Watson, all of Orlando; grandchildren: Marietta and Sophia Watson, Hillary Watson and Ben Watson, all of Orlando; siblings: Minnie Benson of Morris, Libbie Ann Moser of Elgin, IL, Howard (Edna) Goll of Hancock, and Allene (Neil) Handorff of Osakis; and sister-in-law, Helen Goll of Alexandria.  Lila is preceded in death by her parents, John and Bertha Goll; one brother, John Goll Jr.; and brothers-in-law: Dwain Benson and Gene Moser.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Benji Watson Cancer Foundation; www.bensvoice.org.

Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris is in charge of the arrangements.

Lila's Memorial Folder