Jean Baker Watkins

Jean Baker Watkins, 96, passed away on July 4, 2020 in Napa, California. A native Californian, she was the daughter of Eleanor White and Virgil P. Baker. She was born December 9th, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. She attended Westridge School in Pasadena and Smith College in Massachusetts.

She met and later married Wilbur Lewis Watkins on April 8th 1944 at St. Peter’s church in Weston, Massachusetts where they also lived until 1952, when they moved to Atherton, California and lived for 40 years, finally relocating to a family property in Napa, California.

Jean was a dedicated mother first and foremost. She treasured her children and grandchildren and loved to travel, garden and cook. Naturally compassionate, Jean shared her love for animals with her children. While living in Napa, she volunteered rehabilitating crows for Wildlife Rescue. Instinctively curious, Jean was an avid reader, an active member of the San Francisco World Affairs Council, civil rights and contributed anonymously to college funds and other causes she believed in. She exhibited her love of family history by spending years carefully cataloguing four generations of photos of the James Blair Baker family of Lead, South Dakota, Buffalo, Montana and Los Angeles, California.

She is survived by her four children Peter Baker Watkins (Kelli), Michael MacClave Watkins, Craig Alexander Watkins (Jennifer), and Louisa Watkins Ward (Stuart), two grandchildren Robert Gregory and Samuel Linton Watkins, and her sister-in-law Sydney Watkins Phillips of Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Burial will be private. Donations can be made to the Napa Wildlife Rescue.