Tribute Video/Letter

On behalf of my family I would like to thank you all for coming today to help us celebrate the life of Tillman Watson. Many of you knew him as neighbor, friend, cousin, uncle, brother, father, and many other titles. To me he will always be known as Grandad.

This man was so much more to me than that. He was a father-figure, grandfather, friend and my guide through life. As I go through life it is his guidance that is my morale compass, and his lessons that have helped mold and shape me into the man I am today. It will be his lessons that I instill in my own children. Forever will I be grateful to him, he was a father to me when he didn't have to be.

I would like to share with you how much my Grandad meant to me. As most teenagers I raged against the world. Grandad was always there, to help me see exactly how confused I was. I remember he and I had gotten into an argument, over what I honestly can't remember now. I just remember that it was near Father's Day. I felt bad and wrote him this letter. (show letter). After my GrandMother had passed away we were cleaning things out and I ran across this letter neatly folded away. This week I ran across this same letter framed in Grandad's bedroom. I believe this represents what Grandad has meant to me throughout the years. It obviously must have meant something to him.

Most Father's Days are filled with ties, new wallets, and other miscellaneous items. I however want to give you something tha I don't always give you, even through I should everyday. I want to give you my thanks. i want to thank you for your guidance and support through all my trials and tribulations as a teenader. If it weren't for your swift hand and soft heart I would not be what I am today. You have molded me into who I am now. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher and friend. Never was there a time that I wcould not call on you for your help or just to hear your workds of inspiration. For that I thank you. Most of all though I thank you for loving me. I love you Grandad and always wll.

You can see he has always been more like a Father to me. Later on in life I finally understood exactly how right he was about pretty much everything. Though my path in life took me away from my hometown of Live Oak, I would still talk to him almost everyday. There was many times recently over the last few years when I would call him knowing I was going to hear the exact same conversation I had heard the day before. I still did it just to hear his voice. I would talk to him about everything from the stock market to if the fish were biting, I will miss that voice. It gave me encouragement when I felt weak and gave me hope when I didn't think I had any. He would give

me just the right nudge to make the right decision and still let the decision be mine. That was the kind of man he was. Always able to guide without pushing. The greatest wisdom he ever gave me was this, to learn that business isn't everything in life, and that family truly does come first. He was very proud of every member of his family and I am honored to be a part of it.

Through my mother, uncle, brother, myself and my son his legacy will live on. I will try to make him as proud of me as I can and I know that my family will do the same. In each of us is a different facet of him. From his charismatic personality that is in my uncle to his savvy business sense that is in my mother. I and my son have been lucky enough to receive his stubbornness and ability to go on. My brother has his love of life and his love of football. We will all miss him and as we go through our lives, it will be him that guides us along.

He once told me how blessed he was. He said most men in life find one women to love and he was blessed enough to find two. He loved my grandmother Sue Watson very much and had a wonderful life with her until her passing. Then later in life God had another plan for him. Margie Nobles a truly wonderful woman who we can't thank enough for coming into Grandad's life blessed his life for the last 10 years. I personally like to think of him as her eyes and she his ears they guided and helped each other through the last part of life's journey. We thank you Margie.

This great man, this Grand Daddy will be missed, but he will never be forgotten.

iPhone Compatibile version

iPad Compatible version (large file)

Flash Version (non-iPad)