Stanley Jack Watson Sr.

January 28, 2023

Dr. Stanley Jack Watson, Sr. was born in Oklahoma in 1920 where he met and married Johnie Lee Butler while pastoring the church in her home town. They had three sons Stanley J. Watson Jr. (Huda) of Ann Arbor Michigan; John Mark Watson (Cheryl) of Picayune Mississippi; David L. Watson (Linda) of South Daytona Florida; and a daughter Anne Gaye Watson, deceased.

He had six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren. His wife of sixty-eight years went on to be with her Lord in 2011. Dr. Watson’s second wife was Dr. Sheila Wallace, who died in 2018.

During World War II, Dr. Watson was commissioned by the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant. As Chaplain at the Hospital of the Port of Los Angeles, he offered counseling and spiritual support to the servicemen returning from the Pacific Theater of War.

Dr. Watson held two doctoral degrees. He earned the D.R.E. (Doctor of Religious Education) with a major in developmental psychology at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, and the Ed.D. (Doctor of Education) at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Postdoctoral studies were done at Tulane University in New Orleans and the University of Southern Mississippi. He taught psychology and counseling at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for thirty-four years. During this time, he supervised students in Clinical Pastoral Training at hospitals in Louisiana, Texas and Florida while serving as mental health consultant at two hospitals in Alabama. He became a national board certified counselor and licensed professional counselor in the state of Mississippi. He served as president of the Gulf Coast Association for Marriage and Family Counselors and was awarded regional honors for his work with that organization.

Dr. Watson wrote extensively for religious publications and was a syndicated columnist for twenty years.

He served as visiting and interim pastor for numerous Southern Baptist churches in Pearl River County.