Obituary of Nora Watts

Nora Lucela Watts Funeral services for Nora Lucela Watts of Elsberry, MO were held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at Carter Ricks Funeral Home in Elsberry. Rev. Allen Calkins, pastor of the Star Hope Baptist Church, officiated. Mrs. Watts, 83, died early Sunday morning, November 28, 2004 at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Born December 25, 1920 in Keokuk, IA, she was the daughter of the late Frederick William and Bernice Sheffler Hausgen. She was a 1939 graduate of Elsberry High School in Elsberry. She was united in marriage on April 17, 1940 in Elsberry to LaVerne Taylor Watts. Mrs. Watts drove a school bus for the Lincoln County R-2 School District for 42 years retiring in 1990. She assisted her husband in farming, and also drove a lime and dump truck for the family trucking business. She taught furniture refinishing and chair caning at the Pike/Lincoln Tech School in Eolia, MO for five years. Mrs. Watts was a member of the Star Hope Baptist Church near Elsberry. Besides her parents, Fred and Bernice Hausgen, she was preceded in death by two brothers: Frederick William "Freddy" Hausgen and Richard Wallace Hausgen. Survivors include her beloved husband of 64 years, LaVerne Watts of Elsberry; one son, Gilbert Watts and his wife, Sara, of Elsberry; two daughters: LaNora Ann Burbridge and her husband, Billy Joe, of Clarksville, MO, and Carolyn Gatson of Vandalia, MO; eight grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren. She also leaves two brothers: Edward Hausgen and his wife, Ida, of Elsberry, and Ernie Hausgen and his wife, Margia, also of Elsberry; several nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Visitation was held from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at Carter Ricks Funeral Home in Elsberry. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society in care of Carter Ricks Funeral Home, 107 South Fifth Street, Elsberry, MO 63343.