Richard Larry Watkins, journeyed home on Tuesday, November 29, 2016. Larry began his lifetime of service on September 27, 1946.
He was born to Richard and Patsy Watkins in Purcell, Oklahoma. After graduating from Purcell High School in 1964, he attended Oklahoma State University and received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Education. Watkins served his country in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. Larry changed lives as an amazing vocational agriculture teacher at Purcell High School. He continued his promotion of rural Oklahoma by serving as director of Agricultural Development at the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. Larry joined the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC) in 1979 as Director of Legislative Affairs. He served as General Manager at OAEC from 1984 to 2011. Larry ended his ‘official’ service to rural Oklahoma, retiring from OAEC in 2011. He served on the OSU Dean’s Advisory Committee as well as the board for the OSU Agriculture Education Scholarship Foundation and Rural Enterprises, Inc. He was the youngest recipient ever to receive OSU’s Agricultural Education’s Distinguished Graduate Award. He represented Oklahoma in a Leadership Initiative Mission to the USSR, and was selected by the Rotary International to the Group Study Exchange team to England. In 2003, he was named OSU College of Agriculture’s Distinguished Alumnus. When not serving Oklahoma, he also enjoyed spending time with family in Colorado, hunting, riding horses, and enjoying nature by sharing it with those he loved. At home in Oklahoma, he could be found tending to the horses or seeing to the land, trailed closely by his beloved dog, Carhartt.
Larry is preceded in death by His parents, Dick and Patsy, An infant sister, Linda; A sister, Lee Ann and His first wife, Donna Worden.
He is survived by his wife, Natalea of the home; Daughter, Jennifer Roysdon and husband, Jason of Guthrie; Son, Burke Watkins and wife, Erica of Sapulpa (both members of the National Guard) and granddaughters, Hope, Haileigh and Hunter. Larry leaves a thankful nation, a grateful state, and countless changed lives. Memorials may be made to Turning Point Therapeutic Riding, Union Hill Baptist Church, or the Oklahoma State University AgEd Scholarship Foundation.
Funeral Services are scheduled for 11:00 A.M. Friday, December 2, 2016, at the First Baptist Church in Purcell.
Burial will follow at the Hillside Cemetery. Arrangements by Wilson-Little Funeral Home.
The Family will receive friends Thursday, December 1, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 P.M. at the Wilson-Little Funeral Home Chapel. Send online condolences @ wilsonlittle.com
