Katy to salute ‘Senior Citizen of the Year’
James Watson Jr. is the unanimous choice of the advisory board of the W.D and Argie Lee Fussell Senior Citizens Center for Katy’s “Senior Citizen of the Year.” Born and raised in Katy, the 70-year-old will be honored at a 5:30 p.m. June 13 reception at the Fussell Center, 5370 E. Fifth St., in Katy, followed by recognition from Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes at the 6:30 p.m. Katy City Council meeting at City Hall, 910 Ave. C. Above, he works with his wife, Joan, at the pharmacy.
Twenty-one years ago, James Watson Jr.’s mother, the late Frieda Watson, was named Katy’s senior citizen of the year. This year the honor is his. And he was surprised. When Watson received a letter from city social services director Peggy Dimmick announcing that he was this year’s winner, “I thought it was a joke,” the 70-year-old said. “I didn’t think I was old enough to be selected.”
Dimmick said, “The city of Katy wants to recognize an older American for their input, the things they’ve done while they lived here in the community and their impact on the community in some way.”
She said the advisory board for the W.D and Argie Lee Fussell Senior Citizens Center unanimously recommended Watson.
“I’ve known him just about all his life,” advisory board member Nevelynn Melendy said. “I baby-sat him when he was just a young boy. He’s done a lot for the community.”
Both are members of Katy’s First United Methodist Church.
“He’s a fine young man and a good inspiration to the people in the community,” said Melendy, 82.
Dimmick said his supporters told her that Watson was always ready to help people and give advice.
“He’s a people person. He’s a Katy man,” Dimmick said.
Watson was born in Katy and attended schools here.
He and wife Joan Woods graduated from high school together. Then she went to nursing school and he attended pharmacy school. After earning his bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin, Watson came back to Katy.
His wife farmed rice with her brothers and he started the Medicine Dropper pharmacy in 1974 at Midway Shopping Center.
When Brookshire Brothers grocery store opened at Franz and KatyFort Bend in 1993, Watson accepted an offer to lease a corner. Tired of sevenday-a-week work weeks, he took on a partner, Alton Kanak. It is one of two Katy-area pharmacies Watson co-owns.
His customers often are people who taught in schools or Sunday school. “I know their family, their kids and what they’re doing.” “Just taking care of folks” is how he describes his day at the pharmacy.
Melendy said, “He’s helped people who don’t have money to pay — worked with them so that they could get their medicine.”
Tall, white-haired and
with a strong handshake, Watson sees advantages to be an independent pharmacist.
“If I feel someone needs help, if I can,” he said. “I just do it out of habit and wanting to. It’s a spur of the moment.”
He doesn’t have plans to retire.
“I sure don’t mind working. It’s sort of fun still — to visit with your friends all day long.”
Changes in health care and insurance affected the prescription business.
“Insurance ruined the pharmacy business,” he said.
He gives the recent example of a prescription that cost him $1,008 but only resulted in a $1,010 payment from insurance. He acknowledges that insurance companies and doctors are struggling, too, but said $2 is not enough to pay for the label. “Consequently, we do other things. We compound medication for people. That’s good.” Normally, most insurance companies don’t pay for compounded medication, he said, neither does Medicare nor Medicaid.
What helps, too, is the high volume of customers.
“We’re a very busy store,” he said.
The Watsons also are busy. They downsized to a 50-acre ranch in Pattison about seven years ago and they raise about 30 head of Simbrah cattle, a composite breed from Simmental and Brahman cattle.
His 16-year-old granddaughter, Carlie Cope, practices her rodeo skills at the ranch’s riding arena. Watson said she has two really good barrel-racing horses and competes in high school and professional association rodeos.
Two of their three children live in the area.
Wendy Hanne is a teacher and lives in the Katy home in which Watson grew up.
His other daughter, Bonnie Watson, who owns a hair salon and is a real estate agent with Keller Williams, lives across the street from him.
His son Kirby, a sales executive for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, lives in Austin.
Though Older Americans Month was established in 1963, Dimmick said Katy has been celebrating its seniors since 1982. The senior center at 5370 E. Fifth St. features “a wall of honor” displaying photographs of its senior citizens of the year.
Sometimes it’s more than one person. For example, the Fussells, longtime Katy residents who were active in the schools and the senior community, both were honored for their influence and contributions in 1986, Dimmick said.
The reception for Watson will be at the Fussell Center at 5:30 p.m. June 13, and Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes will honor him at the council meeting at 6:30 p.m. later that day.