Obituary of James H. Watts, Sr.

James Watts is the only son of Norman and Virginia “Janie” Watts who preceded him in death.  James has three sisters, Bernice Fogg, Elizabeth Southerland and Lisa Bailey and was born in Parksley, Virginia on March11, 1947.

 On Friday morning, February 15, 2019 James passed quietly at home after smiling at his wife, Brenda when she assured him she would be okay. 

He migrated with his family to Wilmington in 1955 and settled in the Dunleith Estates area.  He received his early education from Dunleith Elementary School and graduated from De La Warr High School.  James enjoyed track and field and baseball.  During the summer school breaks while he attended high school James was hired as a carpentry assistant and worked at the Crossroads Diner saving his earnings to purchase his first car for $65.00, a two-toned 1951 Chevy Coupe.  This vehicle was the first of many due to his love of cars.  

James was a laborer working in the construction field when he applied at the Chrysler Automotive Plant in Newark, Delaware. After working for two months at Chrysler he was drafted into the United States Army in which he served for two years becoming a Specialist E5 with an honorable discharge.  He then returned to work at Chrysler where he met Elbert Dunnigan which lead him to join Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church with his wife, where he became a long-time member working with the Audio/Visual and Culinary Ministries.  Chrysler’s employment gave him the opportunity to take courses in Criminology and Psychology at the Delaware Technical College in Wilmington.  This made it possible for him to become one of the instructors for the plants classroom activities, retiring after 34 years of faithful service.  After 3 ½ years of retirement he rejoined the workforce at the State of Delaware’s Department of Motor Vehicles as a Lane Tech II.  He then took a position as a Toll Collector and later transferred to the E-Z Pass Division as the Operations Support Specialist for a total of ten years, retiring again in August of 2016.

James is survived by Brenda, his wife of 27 years, sons; James, Jr., Kevin Frazier, Kenneth and Gregory Chambers, daughter; India Daniels, grandchildren; Jalisa, Jordan, Davon, Gjaimier, Khadijah, James III, Janai, Avon, Jaionna, Myoki, Eli, Kenny, Jr., Kendra, Kenisha, Autumn and a multitude of great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.