Vickie Ann Watts

Vickie Watts was born into the world as Vickie Templeton on 12/20/1953. She was the first born to Sue Templeton and a year later Vickie was joined by her soon to be best friend and brother Teddy. Early on Vickie and Teddy were raised alone by their mother and grandparents, until Sue met Ralph Smith. Ralph became a father to Vickie and Teddy and when their families joined, they welcomed five step siblings; Larry, Marilyn, Kathy, Martha, and Margaret.

Growing up Vickie enjoyed playing in the drum core at Aloha High School until she graduated in 1971. After high school she got a job at a small computer parts workshop and little did she know that her life would be changed forever because she met her best friend Jan Ripepi (50 years strong) and her first husband Steve Hardy. Vickie and Steve married in 1984 and were together for 35 years before deciding to separate in 2000. While together they welcomed two beautiful children Theresa and Spencer.

Shortly after, Vickie went on to meet the love of her life, Phillip Watts. Phil stood strongly by her side to beat cancer after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. This ultimately brought them closer together and sealed the deal in blending their families. Theresa and Spencer welcomed their stepbrother Chris with open arms on September 15th, 2007 when Vickie married Phil.

Phil took Vickie to Hawaii where her love of birds grew, and she found a great love for sea turtles. The family took a great vacation to see Jan’s daughter Michelle get married in Mexico, and the entire family has reflected on this trip over the years as a great adventure with many fun memories.

Vickie had a lifelong love for animals. She owned many cats and one very special Chesapeake Bay Receiver, Jessie. She spent many hours of her life going bird watching. She took her children on many bird watching adventures. When they weren’t bird watching they were taking trips to Manzanita and staying in her friend Traci’s beach house.

One of Vickie’s favorite things was gardening. She spent years building a well-manicured oasis in her yard. This included a brick path that went halfway around the house that she laid with repurposed bricks from her parents’ farm. She watched her garden grow from little buds into big beautiful bushes, flowers, and trees. Phil found his corner of the yard to cultivate a garden to add to the beauty of the yard as they blended their lives.

Vickie found out she had quite a talent for playing pool. This led to Phil and her co-captaining pool league teams for a few years together. One of her great achievements was to get most improved player in 2012. They would spend much of their free time using their personalized pool cues and playing together.

On January 31, 2011, Vickie and Phil became grandparents by Spencer to a sweet baby boy, Keenan. Spencer and Keenan came to live with them in 2015.

In late 2015, Vickie had a cardiac event that sent her health into decline. She spent the last years of her life watching her grandson grow and being surrounded by family and friends.

In her final days, Vickie turned 67 with a great birthday made complete by: homemade lemon drops cocktails, her grandmother’s recipe for Sandies cookies, and a 3 ½ hour zoom call with Jan. She spent Christmas with her family and mother at her home.  After Christmas Vickie became tired and not feeling well. She passed on 01/02/2021 with Phil by her side and the kids in the house.

Before she passed, she demanded that her sunglasses be placed on her head. She stated, “that way God will recognize me.” This request was honored by Phil. She will forever be known as the neighborhood watch and welcoming committee. She was a mother to all lost souls and animals. Rest in peace.

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