Thomas Edwin Watts

THE WOODLANDS— Thomas Edwin Watts, MD, age 79, of The Woodlands, Texas, passed away on Monday, March 18, 2024.

He was born on November 9, 1944 in Naples, Florida, to Harold G. Watts (Red) and Alameda Ruth Watts. After World War II, the family moved back to Texas, where Tom grew up on a cotton farm outside of Floydada, Texas.

Tom was the eldest of five siblings. He learned early that the quicker he finished his meal, the better chance he had to get seconds. He managed to pass that trait to his kids so that dinners were short affairs at the Watts household.

In high school his nickname was the “Floydada Flash” due to his speed on the football field. When asked where he grew up, he would affectionately say “Floydada, Texas— Home of Friendly Farms and Fertile Folks.”

He graduated from the University of Texas with a B.S. in chemical engineering. He then went to medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston where he met Nancy, his wife of over 50 years. Ever the one to find a solution for any problem, when Houston was deemed too hot, Tom and Nancy relocated to Minnesota eventually ending up in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

Tom joined the local physicians’ group in Blue Earth as a family medicine doctor in 1975. Upon his arrival at the clinic one day in “Dan” the Volkswagen van, with a long horseshoe mustache, wild hair and bell bottoms, an elderly lady waiting for her appointment with the doctor demanded “Why does he get to see the doctor first?!” To which the receptionist said “Ma’am, he IS the doctor.”

In the two decades they lived in Blue Earth, Tom not only worked full-time with all that being a small-town family medicine doctor entails, he also coached his kids’ sports teams, started a country-western cover band affectionately named “Roadkill,” and always, always had a new hobby. His hobbies ranged from woodworking (creating a chair that was a “perfect fit” for him) and gardening to learning everything he could about the weather, then fractal geometry, then Vitamin D and finally virology and microbiology. All the while teaching anyone who would listen his favorite strategy game, Go.

He delighted in music and esecially country music. Many nights were spent playing the guitar and singing to his kids the song “Dead Skunk” … “crossing the highway late last night … he didn’t look left and he didn’t look right …” He also dabbled in music comedy, writing “The Proctologist’s Lament” to the tune of the Eagles’ “Take it to the Limit” … “Push it to the limit one more ti-iiiiiiime.”

He loved sports throughout his adult life, starting with tennis and then eventually golf. He was as competitive as they come while also knowing how to lose graciously and putting sports in the context in which they belong— “it’s just a sport.” Never one to miss the opportunity for a laugh, he would announce “That was a West Texas double-cheeker” after crushing a drive.

Eventually Minnesota got too cold, so Tom and Nancy relocated to The Woodlands, Texas, where Tom declared he was “semi-retired because I’m only working 40 hours a week.” Every lunch was a “PB&J, Diet Coke and two buckets of balls” on the driving range.

He had so many sayings, there were almost too many to count. We will leave you with two: the sing-song “I don’t know, it may be so but it sounds like bull s**t to me” and “It’s amazing how lucky you get at things that you practice.”

For those of you who knew him we want you to know that he loved learning about you, where you came from and what you did. He had a lust for learning and a curiosity about the world that were truly unmatched. He was a true Renaissance man.

We have mourned our Papa Doc since his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease many years ago as the disease slowly took away all those things that made him ours. We miss him dearly but are comforted in the knowledge that wherever he may be, he has a new place to explore and learn everything about.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; son Alex and wife, Melissa, and children, Everett and Adalyn of Columbus, Indiana; daughter Casey and husband, Mike Martin and son, Callan, of Santa Rosa, California; brothers Sam and wife, Joyce, of Granbury, Texas; Danny and wife, Melanie, of Spicewood, Texas; Ricky and wife, Laura, of Ponca City, Oklahoma; sister Janet Garrett and husband, James, of Midland, Texas; and many nieces and nephews, who all learned to sing “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.”

The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Alzheimer’s Association online at alz.org or to your local Alzheimer’s Association.

A celebration of Tom’s life is planned for the summer.