Katherine "Kitty" (Wills) Watkins

Katherine “Kitty” Wills Watkins, a longtime resident of the Hartford area, died peacefully on Thursday, July 28, 2011. She was 83. Born Katherine Rose Wills on March 11, 1928 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Kitty was the third and youngest child of Natalie Miller Wills and Frank Julian Wills. Upon graduation from Little Rock Senior High School, she attended Sullins College in Virginia and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. After college she worked in her father’s law office where she met Frederick Watkins, who was one of her father’s clients. Kitty married Fred in December of 1951 and moved to the Hartford area where Fred was an executive with the Aetna Insurance Company. Kitty lived in West Hartford for over 50 years, raising three children and actively volunteering at her children’s school as well as a number of local organizations including the Junior League and the Hartford Hospital Auxiliary, where she served as president. An accomplished sportswoman, she spent many happy hours on the paddle and tennis courts at the Hartford Golf Club and fly fishing in both the ponds of the Limestone Trout Club and the streams of Elk Trout, Colorado. She particularly enjoyed the intellectual challenges she encountered at the bridge table as well as with her investment club. Kitty travelled the world extensively with her husband, but most enjoyed spending time with family and friends at the Town & County Club in Hartford, the Coral Beach Club in Bermuda and the Tunxis Club in Tolland, Massachusetts, where she was a longstanding member. She is survived by her husband, Frederick D. Watkins Jr.; her children, including Frederick D. Watkins III and his wife Kim of Mahwah, New Jersey, Elsie Patrick and her husband James of Darien, CT, and Nancy Shott and her husband William of Park City, Utah; and six grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Friday, August 12th at 11am at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Kitty’s name either to the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105, or to ‘HFPG, Inc. for the Frederick D. and Katherine W. Watkins Family Fund’ at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, 10 Columbus Blvd, Hartford, CT 06106.

Katherine "Kitty" (Wills) Watkins

March 11, 1928 - July 28, 2011