July 4, 1936-Aug. 5, 2020
John Michael "Mike" Watson, 84, passed away at his home on August 5,
2020. He was born July 4, 1936 in Livermore, California, the son of
Merle Kamp and John Marion Watson of Pleasanton, California.
Mike was raised by his mother and stepfather, Paul Kral. He has one
younger sister, Patsy Flores (Andy) of San Jose. Mike loved growing up
in Pleasanton. His family lived on East Angela and later on Silver
Street. His fondest early memories centered around all the wonderful
years he spent at his grandmother’s (Eilene Mohr Kamp Sheffield), at the
many big family gatherings at the nearby Mohr Estate, and, later, his
fun-filled years at "PES#56" (his jovial moniker for Pleasanton
Elementary) and Amador High (Class of '54). While at Amador, he was
active in sports and worked on the school newspaper. He also worked as a
stringer for the Pleasanton Times and the Livermore Hearld. He covered
all the local high school sports. He loved Pleasanton!
He got his AA Degree at College of San Mateo, then proudly served 8
years in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Master Sergeant. When he
returned, he went to work for the Oakland Tribune as a copy boy, which
brought endless exploits and tales.
He had a lifelong love of baseball -- and ALL sports. Coupling that with
his newspaper skills (honed at Amador and at CSM), he became a natural
sportswriter. Recognizing those talents, he was hired away from the
Oakland Tribune by the Hayward Daily Review, where he worked for 25
years as a sportswriter and, later, Special Sections Editor.
While Mike worked at the Daily Review, he met his future wife, Carolyn
Claus, when she was an SJS journalism intern at the newspaper one
summer. They would have celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary on
August 28, 2020.
Mike and Carolyn lived in the Northgate area of Fremont, California,
where, for 43 years, neighbors said he was “a wonderful friend and
neighbor.” He was active in all of his daughters’ endeavors, including
serving on SSC boards at both Warwick Elementary and Thornton Junior
High, as well as several South County softball boards. He was an FGSA
softball coach and a CYO basketball referee. He always made time for
fun-filled family vacations – Disneyland and Yosemite were favorites.
Following his many years in the newspaper business, Mike's amiable
personality caught the eye of personnel at Long's Drugs. He was hired
and worked at Bayfair Long's and Greenhouse Long's until he retired.
After a year of retirement, he was lured back to help when Long's bought
and converted a Payless store in Newark.
His retirement years naturally were spent enjoying all the sports he
could watch (especially his beloved San Francisco Giants), participating
in many activities with Native Sons of the Golden West, Washington
Parlor #169, and enjoying the activities and achievements of his 8
greatly loved grandchildren.
Mike was a friendly and kind, good-natured man, a doting father and
grandfather. He will lovingly be remembered by his wife, Carolyn, his
three daughters, Jennifer Watson-Bird (Robin) of Livermore, Wendy
Williams (Brad) of Merced, and Courtney Peterson (Kim) of Concord, and
his eight grandchildren, Brittany, Chase, Wyatt, Eli, Brooke, Amelia,
Noah, and Nathan, and all who were lucky enough to know him.
Tags: veteran
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