.

Cecil Don Watson

Waxahachie, TX

Address information may be obtained by emailing your request to the webmaster

While at Ft. Hood, I married a young lady who was attending Mary-Hardin Baylor. Although, we were divorced 10 years later, we did have two boys that have grown into good young men. The oldest has two children, a boy 13 and a girl 7 years old and lives in Arlington, Tx. The youngest son married in 2003 and lives in Arlington also.  

I became a police officer with the Dallas Police Department in 1964 and retired from there in 1989. The highlight of my career was meeting Connie. We were married in 1973; and although we have no children of our own, the boys have loved and respected her through the years. We will be celebrating our 35^th just before our 50^th reunion. Donny (Cecil Jr.) and Jenny allow us to spend a lot of time with our grandchildren and take them on our travels. We really enjoy that. Donny also takes a canoe trip in Arkansas each year. A few of years ago he found out that one of the other guys on the trip was a Prigmore from Pampa. (I believe he is a son or nephew of Don Prigmore, '56) It is a small world. 

The other highlight of my Dallas career was being named the Department's Officer of the Year in 1985. I was surprised and grateful to see Udo Specht at that awards banquet. He was with the Dallas office of the FBI and had attended to offer an old school mate his support and congratulations. 

I became tired of not doing anything and went back to work with the Ellis County Sheriff's Department in 1990. I took about 1½ years from that service and served as the Police Chief of a small department in Alvarado, Tx. I returned to the Ellis County Sheriff's Department in 1994 and retired Dec. 31, 1999. The highlight of that service was being awarded the Medal of Valor and named as Officer of the Year with that department. I served in various capacities with both departments but retired the last time while in charge of Personnel & Training of the Sheriff's department. 

In what we anticipate to be our last relocation, we moved to Arlington to be near our son and grandchildren. 

My dad died in 1961 while I was in Korea, and my Mother was living in Arlington when she passed away in 2003.  I am in good health although I did have back surgery in 1981 for an injury suffered on duty, and I had cardiac by-pass surgery in 1986.  I also had a little health problem in 2006 and now have a pacemaker which gives me more energy than I had before it was inserted.

Connie worked as a Registered Nurse until her retirement in 1995. The Lord has blessed us all much more than we deserve. Although I know I can never earn what He has given to me, I will keep working in His name. He just hasn't told me what my next assignment is yet. 

 In 2004 I traveled to Afghanistan where I functioned as a Police Advisor for the Afghanistan National Police Force.  Those of us working as advisors assisted the Afghanistan Instructors in teaching Police methods in a democratic society.  I don't know exactly how that will work in the end since that is a Muslim Religion controlled government and that differs quite a bit from a democratic form of government.  It is a National Police Force and that is rarely a desired type of agency. 

There were two training facilities in service when I arrived and five were in service when I left.  Two more were finished in the two years I have been gone. The office where I worked was obliterated by a suicide car bomber in August, turning my desk into a really big pile of toothpicks and killing 10 people, four of which were Americans. Luckily I had left the day before for a short assignment. We also lost five advisors in a helicopter crash after I returned home.  I had spent a lot of hours in that helicopter, so I feel that I was very lucky or just blessed that the Lord was watching out for me again.

I learned that the Muslim community is much like any other community.  It has its religious fanatics, its middle of the road sensible community, and the community that doesn't want to get involved.  The two main factions wage violent confrontations on who should be in control. 

I returned home and back to the retirement mode in Feb., 2005.  I stay busy in my retirement by spending some time playing golf (terrible golf by the way) with both my son and grandson.  We sometimes confuse people when we travel around together as we are all Cecil: Cecil Sr., Cecil Jr. and Cecil III. 

My sister and I are all that are left of the family that lived in Pampa and she lives in Midland.  We have little reason to travel to Pampa, but we did stop on the way to Santa Fe this summer to take the grandchildren to Coney Island.  It feels good to be able to say that three Cecil Watsons have dined (and enjoyed) the Coney Island.

 Your fellow classmate

Cecil Watson