Rev. Granville Heatherington Watson, Jr.

REV. GRANVILLE H. WATSON, JR.

Rev. Granville Heatherington Watson, Jr., age 83, passed awa y Wednesday, August 12, 2020 .

Graveside services will be Sa turday, August 15, 2020 at 3 pm at Memorial Gardens of Columbus with Dr. Joe McKeever officiating and Dr. Bobby Douglas assisting.  Memorial Gunter Peel Funeral Home & Crematory, 2nd Avenue North Location is in charge of arrangements.

Rev. Watson was born November 21, 1936 in Jeffersonville, IN. He was preceded in death by his parents Granville Sr., Corene Bolly Watson and Lucy Doughty Watson. He was a graduate of L ee High School in Columbus and Mississippi State U niversity in Starkville .  He earned a Masters of Divinity at Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary . Rev. W atson was ordained as a minister at First Baptist Church in Columbus, where he was also a member in his youth .  He served more than 20 years in Moorhead, Mississippi, first as pastor at Moorhea d Baptist Church and later as Director of M issions for the Sunflo wer County Baptist Association . Most of his career he was bi-vocational, serving both in full time ministry and farming catfish in the Mississippi Delta as well as marketing a water quality product used in aquaculture for many years after his farming days ended. In 1986 , he joined the staff of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO where h e held multiple roles for the school of evangelism and development for the university until he fully retired in 2019 . While at SBU , one o f his greatest joys in ministry came while serving as an interim p astor on weekends for churches throughout Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Tennessee. He was known for his commitment to small congregations and for driving hundreds of miles to serve churches in need, developing lifelong friendships in the process.

He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Becky Evans Watson of Columbus, MS; sons Frank Loper of Starkville and Granville Heatherington (Heath) Watson III (Brook) of Baton Rouge, LA ; daughters Heather Watson Gardner (Rick) of Newburgh, IN and Melanie Watson Thompson (Glenn) of Lebanon,TN ; grandchildren, Brandan Loper , Carlee Loper Calderon, Katie Loper Fancher , Mabry Gardner, Grant Gardner, Reese Thompson, Boone Thompson, Jack Thompson, Kate Thompson and Grace Thomps on; and six great grandchildren; two sisters , Arletta Watson Snyder (Bob) and Sarah Watson Mott (Cecil) .

In addition to his parents, Granville was preceded in death by his first wife, Anne Blalock Wa tson; his son , Charles Daniel (Danny) Loper and his brother Samuel Watson (Linda) .

Memorial contributions may be made to the Granville and Becky Watson Pastoral Ministry Scholarship at Southwest Baptis t University in Bolivar, MO. Go to sbuniv .edu and click Give.

Honorary pallbearers were Bob Marti, Pat Taylor, Larry Lester, Bill Little, Stan Smith, Steven White, Bobby Sanderson, Cecil Mott and his grandsons.

“Well done my good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21