Everett Leonest Watkins

Everett Leonest Watkins (83) of Fayetteville, Ark., died Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, of natural causes. He was born in Brentwood, Ark., June 4, 1939, to Milard and Delma Samples Watkins. After high school in Greenland, Everett married his sweetheart, Deloris Ann (Doris) Smith, and moved to Fayetteville where the couple lived and raised their family. Everett, Doris, and their eldest son Steve were baptized in Tilly Willy. Afterwards, they joined the People's Church and later transferred membership to Ridgeview Baptist Church. There Everett taught himself to play the base guitar by ear and used his talents to spread the gospel by singing with quartets his entire adult life, first with the Ridgeview Singers, and later with the Patriots and the Merits. Over the course of his career, Everett put over a million miles on his gas truck driving over the Boston Mountains for Mitchell Oil Company. Preceded in death by Doris (his wife of 53 years) and his brother Lonnie Ray Watkins, Everett leaves behind a sister, Barbara Ramey, a sister-in-law, Pat Watkins, and two sons. Stephen Ray Watkins and his wife Ambra of Reston, Va., and Christopher Lee Watkins and his wife Cassady of Farmington, AR. He also leaves a living legacy of six grandchildren. Dustin, Chesney, and Bryce, and Layla, Brenner, and Cohenas well as four great grandchildren: Sofia, T.J., Cayley, and Remington. The viewing will be held at Beards Funeral Home on Monday, Nov. 14, from 5-7 p.m. The funeral service will be at Ridgeview Baptist Church on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 10 a.m., followed by the interment at Baptist Ford Cemetery. After the graveyard service, friends and family are invited back to Ridgeview Baptist Church to share a meal and celebrate Everett's life. Online condolences may be made to www.beardsfuneralchapel.com.