Major Almyra M. Watson

Major Almyra Maynard Watson, US Army Nurse Corps (Ret.), age 101, of The Albemarle in Tarboro, formerly of Bethel, died December 9, 2018. The funeral service will be conducted Thursday December 13, 2018 at 2:00 PM in the Bethel United Methodist Church by Rev. Dennis Peay.  Burial will follow in the Whitehurst-Lloyd Family Cemetery in Bethel with full military honors.  Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church.

Miss Watson was born in Lake Landing, NC on September 12, 1917.  The family returned to Bethel in 1920, where she attended Bethel Schools.  She received her nurse's training at St. Vincent's DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.  She then worked at Emergency Hospital, Annapolis, Maryland, and was a member of the American Red Cross Disaster Nurse's Service.  In 1941, she was called to the Army during draft and received her commission as an Army 2 ^nd Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps.  She remained in the Corps 23 years, serving in the United States, the Philippines (stationed at the United Nations Hospital during the Korean War), Japan and Germany.

Upon retiring from the Army she returned home to Bethel, where she worked as a nurse at Bethel Clinic.  She was a member of the Retired Army Nurse Corps Association, the Pitt County Historical Society, Hometown Bethel, Bethel Senior Citizens Club, and the Bethel United Methodist Women where she served as President of Circle #1.  She was a member of the George B. Singletary Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy; the Major Benjamin May Chapter of Daughters of the America Revolution; the Queen Anne Chapter of Daughters of the American Colonists, serving as Vice President; the Eleanor White Dare Chapter of Colonial Dames of the XVII Century; Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims; Daughters of 1812; and Order of First Families of North Carolina.

Major Watson, daughter of the late George M. and Jennie Lloyd Watson, leaves beloved family:  sister, Annette Watson MacRae of Tarboro, nieces and nephews: Mary Sue Banner and Lynn of Greensboro, John L. Watson, Jr. and Nan of Raleigh, Sue Ellen Williams of Greenville, Margaret Ann Harris and Morgan of Bethel, and Nancy Matthews and Clay of Westminster, Maryland; 8 great-nieces and nephews and 15 great-great nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bethel United Methodist Church, PO Box 207 Bethel, NC  27812.

Online condolences may be directed to www.walkerfh.net .  Walker's Ayers Chapel is serving the Watson Family.