ROBERT WATKINS

Funeral service for Robert Franklin Watkins of Yucaipa, Calif., was held last Friday at Mountain Avenue Baptist Church in Banning, Calif. The Rev. Paul Stalmaker officiated, with burial in Crest Lawn Memorial Park in Riverside, Calif.

Watkins, 95, died Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1998, in a nursing home, following an illness of three weeks.

He was born Feb. 21, 1902, at Neelys Landing, son of Elmer and Emma Watkins. He and Anna Burch were married in 1924. She died Feb. 9, 1964.

Watkins moved to California in 1954 from Cape Girardeau. He was a retired carpenter. Watkins was a member of Mountain Avenue Church and was a former Sunday School teacher.

Survivors include a son, Donald Watkins of Calimesa, Calif.; three brothers, Gene Watkins of St. Louis, Earl Watkins of Little Rock, Ark., William Watkins of Cape Girardeau; a sister, Ruth Tinsley of Cape Girardeau; three grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by three brothers and two sisters.