Thelma Jean (Ferge) Watkins

Thelma Jean Ferge Luke Watkins, resident of Bolivar and former resident of the Somerville Community and wife of the late Henry Eugene Watkins died Wednesday afternoon, December 14, 2011 at the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital where she had been a patient for two weeks. She was 73 years of age and died following an extended illness.

Services of Remembrance for Mrs. Watkins will be conducted at 2 P.M. Sunday, December 18th at Peebles Main Funeral Chapel in Somerville with Bro. Kevin Treadway of Somerville officiating. Interment will follow in the Friendship Cemetery on Highway 57 near Moscow. Arrangements will be provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes and Cremation Center — Main Chapel of Somerville.

Mrs. Watkins was born May 16, 1938 in the Fayette Corner Community near Whiteville. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lofton Herbert Ferge and Laura Mae Ashmore Ferge, early residents of the Whiteville area. Mrs. Watkins was a devoted homemaker throughout her life and in earlier years was employed in the production department of High’s Ice Cream Company in Memphis. She was the wife of Henry Eugene Watkins, an automobile mechanic before his death August 11, 2000.

She was a Christian and a member of the Somerville First Baptist Church in earlier years. She was a lifelong resident of Fayette and Hardeman counties and had been a resident of Pleasant View Health Care in Bolivar in recent years. She will be remembered as a private person who enjoyed caring for her home and had a special love for flowers. She looked forward to special times with her family and grandchildren with Christmas being her favorite time of the year. She received much pleasure in past years from her pets that included a pet chihuahua, Peaches.

Mrs. Watkins is survived by two daughters, Paula Whitman of Medon, TN, Pamela Foutch of Somerville; her sister, Mrs. Graham (Margie) Frazier of Laconia Community; two brothers, Frank Ferge of Whiteville, William “Billy” Ferge of Atoka; five grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Those honored to serve as casketbearers were Chris German, Wesley Foutch, Thomas Kelly, William Kelly, Johnny Dowdy and Leroy Dowdy.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the Friendship Cemetery Association, c/o Betty Dacus, 2065 Fortune Road, Moscow, TN 38057.