WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)—A woman who was a vital part of preserving the history of Wichita Falls has sadly passed away.
Lita Watson became the Wichita County archivist for the Museum of North Texas History in the early 1990s and the rest is history. When she spoke to friends and family, the common trend was that Watson genuinely cared about Wichita County and had a huge impact in preserving our county’s history for generations.
“The North Texas History Museum relies on archives to find things, document things, and validate things,” said Lita’s son Carl Watson.
And this woman here was responsible for all of this.
“Well the story is just interesting wherever you are, it’s fun to find out what the story was like,” said Lita Watson.
Longtime friend of Watson Becky Trammell said this room was a second home for Watson, a room not only filled with important archives, but also filled with passion when Watson was present.
“You walk in here and it’s hard not to see something that Lita touched, that Lita influenced and if you talk to people in the community they say, well, if you need to know anything about history you would call Lita Watson,” Trammell said. .
Watson served on the museum’s board of directors and was actually the one responsible for bringing the archive room to where it is now, and that love of preserving the past is something his son Carl Watson has said he has been with her since he was a child, starting in church.
“She really liked the history of the Christian faith, that was her education, her degree, and so she liked teaching it, she taught Sunday school for 40 years and the history of the Bible was very important, so as children yes, he definitely had that history,” Watson said.
Current Wichita County Clerk Bryce Blair said she is now in her position because of Watson.
“The first time I came to the archive I was researching a project I was working on and she was the archivist and she helped me and I kept coming back and coming back and she kept giving me more information and I learned very quickly that This lady knows what she’s doing here, she had a wealth of knowledge of our local history,” Blair said.
And it’s that care for the people, places and things in Wichita County that will truly be missed.
“Personally ill people miss him so much and this whole community will miss having that kind of person who is so devoted and so passionate about the history of this area,” Trammell said.
A celebration of life will be held on Friday, January 27 at First Christian Church across from Midwestern State University beginning at 1:00 pm and is open to the public where a reception will be held afterward.
