Calla lilies were Jeannie's favorite flower.

Susan and I are just receiving word of the passing of our beloved friend, colleague, and saint of God, Jeannie Watkins.  We send you the most sincere and heartfelt condolences along with our three sons, David, Benjamin, and Jonathan.  We also send sympathy from the family at the Adventist University of Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, where we work and live.  We think good thoughts and have the fondest of memories of Jeannie.  We pray that the Lord will give you a huge measure of consolation and comfort.

Jeannie fought the good fight and she won.  She was noble, kind, gracious, selfless, and just a wonderful servant of God.  She was faithful to the end and her trust was rock solid in the God she loved and served.  May she rest now in peace and in the sure hope of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  There is no doubt that she will be in the earth made new and will be a joyful part of the eternal family of God that reside in the land of eternal health.

As you traverse this valley of shadows, you can receive comfort and consolation from the unstinting love and care that you gave her for ten years as she struggled with multiple health challenges.  You were faithiful from the beginning to the end.  Jeannie loved her family and knew her family loved her.  She often referred to you while working in the President's office at Oakwood University and we always had an update on your life and pursuits.

Your exemplary love and care for Jeannie was widely known and appreciated.  When working together we periodically reflected on God's providences that our lives intersected in several distinct ways.  Her mother was my first grade teacher and Garland Millet was a role model to me throughout his life.  Working with Jeannie during the majority of my presidency at Oakwood was one of its bright spots and she was responsible for making many of the initiatives and programs work.

Our hearts are with you Adrian, Holly, Chris, Jen, Claudia, Gwen, and Joe.  May God grant you extraordinary comfort and peace during this period.

Warm condolences.

Delbert and Susan Baker

Just a note of interest:  When I read that Jeannie will be interred in the Oakwood Memorial Gardens, I distinctly remembered when we were planning and creating the cemetary in 2000.  Jeannie was an integral part of the initiating team that developed and founded the cemetary.  We all resolved that, if time should last, we would get plots and finally be laid to rest there to await the Second Coming, and would, by God's grace, see each other on that resurrection morning.  God bless her memory.

 

Let Jeannie express her faithfulness in her own words from her published article, “Precious Peace” in the book, Gifts of Hope, a devotional by over 100 black Adventist women published in 2011 and edited by Cynthia Powell-Hicks and Janice Johnson-Browne

“It was 2007, the beginning of my journey through the tunnels of modern medicine. What began as occasional efforts to refocus on what I was doing, ended on a Sunday morning when my mind knew what it wanted to say, but my words made no sense.  So began the search for a cause; a tumor on the brain, removed in the next week.  But there was something else, another tumor in the lung!  The second surgery 21 days later.  How quickly my life had changed as the year became a maze of surgeons, brain and body scans, chemotherapy, exhaustion, and loss of hair.

But that’s not the real story.  My remarkable news is how, through all of this, I experienced such absolute peace in Jesus.   Just remembering it brings tears to my eyes; how encased I was in a halo of His love and caring.  We learned how a vast body of believers was praying for me.  The physicians knew them as God’s back-seat drivers, in place to guide their hands.  And how humbled I was that He chose nearly pain free procedures and such quick recovery, which completely astounded the doctors.  Then there were the amazing financial blessings.  How could we know that God already planned for my immense medical costs before we even knew they were coming. 

You see, there was never any reason to be anxious or afraid. His perfectly orchestrated plans were becoming obvious to us, as day by day we saw how intricately He had woven His web of care.  Jesus was there to remove all fear when I found myself in the valley of the shadow of death.  My love for my Savior poured out. “    - Jeannie Watkins

Jeannie's family gathered at the Dent family reunion in 2015 on Saint Simons Island, GA.  Pictured L-R:  her son-in-law, Pastor Seth Yalorda; daughter, Holly; granddaughters, Emily Grace and Emelia Elise; daughter, Jennifer; husband, Adrian; grandson, Christopher James; daughter-in-law, Angie; son, Chris 

Jeannie early demonstrated her feistiness through her amazing fearlessness, her fitness through a lifelong commitment to excellence in all her talented hands found to do, her fun and humor through her love of laughter and prankishness, her friendliness through her amazing almost legendary selfless generosity and kindness to so many, and her faithfulness through her love of Jesus and her devotion to His Word.

Cherishing her memory and faithfully waiting to reunite with her in that great “gettin’ up mornin’ ” so we can all go to our eternal home with Jesus and visit and eat the fruit from Jeannie’s heavenly garden which will be indescribably more beautiful and delicious than her Huntsville AL-Rosewood Circle earthly garden, and spend eternity trying our best to out-prank Jeannie and avoid her celestial pranks, are her faithful and loyal husband of 45 years, Adrian; her daughter, Jennifer; her son, Christopher (Angie) and grandson, Christopher James; her daughter, Holly Watkins Yalorda (Pastor Seth) and granddaughters, Emilie Grace, Emelia Elise, and Elise Marie; sisters, Gwendolyn Dent White (Charles) and Claudia Dent Tibbs (Carl), brother, Joseph (aka: Sonny) Dent, Jr., (Judy), and a long, long list of adoring and grieving nieces, nephews, cousins, former co-workers, and friends, including you, dear reader.

(Photo:  Jeannie's extended family at the 2017 Dent family reunion on St. Simons Island, GA, posing in front of the ancestral home of George and Ophelia Dent, Jeannie's great grandparents on the slave owning "white" side of the family, on the Dent-Hofwyl-Broadfield rice slave plantation in Glenn County, GA) 

Her talented and beautiful children, Jennifer, Chris and Angie, and Holly and Seth, will tell you that their amazing mom, Jeannie, told them often in her declining years that she was ready to go to sleep in Jesus, and that she was ready for the Lord to take her anytime He wanted to.  

Jeannie fought as good a fight as any of God’s children. She finished her course, well. She conscientiously kept the faith. In her feistiness, her fitness and polish, her fun and humor, her friendliness and selfishness, and her faithfulness, she reflected our soon coming Savior, Jesus.  Indeed, when you think about, these are the qualities of our Lord Jesus Christ!   Henceforth is laid up and waiting for her a crown of righteousness which will be given her on that glorious day. And not to Jeannie only but unto all of us who loved, respected, admired, and appreciated Jeannie so much, and who also love and are looking forward to His coming. (based on 2 Tim. 4:7-8)

Feisty, fit, funny, friendly, and FAITHFUL Jeannie.

(Photo:  Jeannie with husband, Adrian, at the college graduation of their daughter, Holly, from Pacific Union College, Angwin CA)

And speaking of being friendly and selfless, this tribute to Jeannie would be incomplete and remiss if it did not mention and give additional tribute to Jeannie’s surviving husband, Adrian Watkins.  As Jeannie declined in health and mobility over the last 10 years, she became increasingly dependent on others, her loving and caring children, Jennifer, Chris and Angie, and Holly and Seth in particular, for her 24/7 care. To the awe, wonderment, and speechless amazement of the extended family, her loyal, unceasingly attentive, and selflessly caring husband of 45 years, Adrian, personified and faithfully fulfilled his July 11, 1971, marriage vows to his bride, Jeannie, “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part” as well as any man as ever done!  Besides her children, Adrian was truly the best friend on earth Jeannie ever had.  And Jeannie was truly the best friend on earth Adrian ever had.

Feisty, fit, funny, and FRIENDLY Jeannie!

(Photo:  Jeannie's husband of 45 years, Adrian Watkins) 

Jeannie leaves a legacy of generosity and giving that has been evident since her youth.  Phyllis Paytee, the wife of now deceased Elder Lorenzo Paytee, legendary principal of Los Angeles Union/Academy and first Black president of the Southern CA Conference, shared a story about Jeannie's friendly and giving nature at her memorial service in Los Angeles, March 18, 2017.  Phyllis told how when Jeannie's mother, the late Alice Dent, was terminally ill and in declining health at their home in Los Angeles, Jeannie made an amazing decision while she was enrolled as a student at Pacific Union College.  She went to all her college professors to make one announcement and one request. She first announced that she was going to leave the campus and go home to help her dad care for her mother.  But then Jeannie also requested her professors to arrange for her to finish all that semester's coursework by correspondence.  Her requests were granted.  Jeannie packed up and went home to help care for her dying mother. And back in the days long before the Internet, she also finished her college coursework that semester by mail correspondence.

Jeannie’s friendliness and acceptance of everyone who came within her sphere inspired one of the most gracious and selfless acts the family, or anyone for that matter, has ever seen.   Shannon Hampton, Jeannie’s grandniece, is an accomplished hair stylist with a beautiful, head turning head of hair of her own, and she noticed Jeannie losing her hair and going bald from her cancer treatments.  Without giving it a 2nd thought, Shannon selflessly decided to shave her own head bald and style her own hair into a natural hair wig as a love gift to Jeannie.    These are the kinds of selfless acts of kindness, hospitality, and generosity that Jeannie modeled in her own life and that she engendered in other people.  Selflessness and generosity just kind of had a way of rubbing off on you when you were blessed to be around Jeannie. 

(Photo:  Jeannie with her grand neice, Shannon Hampton, in Huntsville AL)

Her children, Jennifer, Chris, and Holly, have risen up to call her blessed.  To them Jeannie was not only an awesome, devoted, and disciplined mother who taught them a love for their Savior, Jesus Christ and a strong work ethic, she was their best friend who took pains to thoroughly explain every lesson she taught them.  Jeannie taught her children that washing dishes meant cleaning not just the dishes, but the whole kitchen, counters, appliances, floors, drying towels, everything.  And if you had time and energy to do a less than perfect job, like cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming the floor, or scrubbing the shower, you were telling also Jeannie you had the time and energy to keep doing it over and over for as many times as it took for you to do the job to perfection.  Ask Jenn, Chris, and Holly!   Laziness, sloth, and slovenliness had a rough time being around Jeannie Watkins.  Her work ethic was unbending and unyielding to the point of ruthless!

Jeannie was the rare kind of mother who could mix humor into her discipline.  She would place her only son, Chris, across her knee for a loving spanking for some trouble he’d gotten himself into, and Chris discovered the amazing ability to do something funny to Jeannie to make her laugh so much before she started the spanking that she had to cancel the punishment, to Chris’s immense and inexpressible relief.  Of course, Chris, upon happily discovering this heaven-sent escape technique did his level best to hone his special gift and talent to perfection and take full advantage at every opportunity!  (It rarely happened!)  But Jenn and Holly were always so frustrated and always envied Chris for this amazing ability, cause they were never able to equal him in this area.

(Photo:  Jeannie with her thirdborn, Holly Watkins-Yalorda, at the wedding of her nephew, Joe Dent III, to Dr. Alana Harris-Dent on the campus of Hampton University.)  

From since she was a little girl, Jeannie has always been kind, generous, and friendly, and attentive to others’ needs.  Her older sisters, Gwen and Claudia remember how as a small child she would always be the one to remind you that somebody’s birthday is coming up and we have to get gifts and plan a party. 

As a child at Christmas time Jeannie would gather small bottles and boxes and objects from around the house and carefully wrap them up as gifts.

And the unlocked door to Jeannie and Adrian’s house was ALWAYS open, not just literally, but socially and relationally, as well.  That 24/7 unlocked side door on their driveway in a real way symbolized the doors to both Jeannie’s and Adrian’s hearts that were always open, always welcoming, always inviting, ever beckoning  – whether you were a stranger, a student, a family member from out of town, an old friend in need, or a new friend in need.  At Jeannie’s place, the welcome mat was always out, the light was always on, and the door was always open.

Countless individuals have counted Jeannie and Adrian’s home as their home, their bed, their kitchen during their time of need.  And Jeannie never charged a single person a single dime for their generous hospitality. 

Alicia and Eleanor Dent recall the time they stayed several days with Jeannie during a visit to Huntsville.  And every morning during their stay they would awaken to find Jeannie already up and gone to work in Dr. Delbert Baker’s president’s office on the campus of Oakwood University.  But in the kitchen they would discover to their surprise and delight that Jeannie had prepared and left them breakfast.  And not just any simple old breakfast of a box or 2 of cold cereal and a banana left out for their enjoyment.  Jeannie had prepared fried eggs, pancakes, waffles, fried stripples, cut up fresh fruit with yogurt, toast and jelly, juice, etc. all laid out with table cloth and place settings that would rival any Sunday morning breakfast buffet.  And this was not just once, but EVERY day during their entire stay.  Countless people have similar stories to share.

Family and friends still talk to this day of the large family feasts at Jeannie and Adrian’s place, or outdoors at Guntersville Lake, Joe Wheeler Park, Monte Sano Park or some other outdoor picnic area.  Jeannie loved the out of doors and vigorous hikes on Green Mountain especially when family and friends gathered for picnic spreads. 

And it didn’t matter the season of the year!  Jeannie would just as soon bundle her family up in winter clothing gear and pack up a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends for a winter picnic at a nearby park picnic pavilion in frigid early winter temperatures with a fire roaring in the outdoor fireplace as to have it according to tradition; i.e. inside someone’s cozy and crowded home.

Former Oakwood University president, Dr. Delbert Baker, for whom Jeannie worked for many years says of Jeannie: “She was noble, kind, gracious, selfless and just a wonderful servant of God.”

Adrian is a skilled and able automobile mechanic in his own right. As proficient as Jeannie was at bringing old furniture to new life, Adrian is as proficient bringing old cars to new life.  Jeannie appreciated Adrian for always having her in a dependable automobile, but she had for years begged her loyal and talented husband to rid their Huntsville AL yard of rusting and disabled junk cars that he was working on and using for spare parts.  Adrian always came up with an excuse and a promise, which he was never able to fulfill since he spent many of his years working at his job in Long Beach CA 2 times zones away. 

Finally, Jeannie, with her feisty self, ran out of patience.    An idea slipped into her mischievous mind that was at once fun and practical.  She called the City of Huntsville and unhesitatingly reported that her “neighbor” was keeping ugly and unlicensed rusty cars in his yard that were ruining the appearance of the neighborhood.  The City sent a summons to Adrian to appear in court to answer for the “neighbor’s” charges or risk a fine and even jail time.  Adrian hurriedly hopped a flight, flew home, appeared in a Huntsville courtroom, paid his fine and court costs, avoided jail, and, by the way, dutifully moved his cars!   Jeannie and Gwen had a good, hearty, high fivin’ laugh between themselves, Gwen laughing just as much as Jeannie cause Gwen had done the very same thing to her husband, Charles White, himself an avid “collector” of spare parts!           

Feisty, fit, and FUNNY Jeannie!

Jeannie’s love for pranking wasn’t confined to her immediate family.  There was the time Jeannie and Adrian travelled all the way across country from Huntsville AL to Seattle WA to visit close friends, Byron and Linda Dulan.   On their departure Byron thoughtfully offered Jeannie a can of Loma Linda Nuteena to take on their homeward journey in case of hunger.  Jeannie thanked him but politely declined.  Byron, unpersuaded but unfortunately not having been told by Chris that you don’t start a prank with Jeannie Watkins and expect to come out on the winning end, decided to prank Jeannie by hiding his rejected can of Nuteena in either Jeannie’s luggage or their van, he doesn’t remember exactly where.  But upon discovery on arriving home, Jeannie, no one knows exactly how, somehow or another got that can of Nuteena BACK into Byron’s hands.  No one knows if it was by mail express delivery, certified mail signature required, or hidden in Byron’s luggage on his next return visit, or what, but Jeannie figured out a way to get that Nuteena can back to its original shelf space in Seattle WA. 

Byron, in turn, still ignorant of Chris’ coming out on the losing end in a restaurant food fight with Jeannie, somehow figured out a way to get that can of Nuteena BACK into Jeannie’s house and hands.  Jeannie promptly returned the favor and continued pranking Byron again and again returning that can of Nuteena to him for years.  The competition between Jeannie and Byron got so fierce and desperate that they were reduced to employing their own children as co-conspirators and accomplices, Byron, his Allison, and Jeannie, her Chris, to help keep the Nuteena can prank ongoing.  Legend has it that that hapless little travel-exhausted can of Loma Linda Nuteena is on record for having the longest unofficial travel mileage record in history for a Nuteena can, traveling back and forth like a ping pong ball between Jeannie’s house and Byron’s house for at least 10 years, a mileage record that Guinness World Records would doubtless be proud of. 

And whether you were Jeannie’s kid, or Jeannie’s husband, if she couldn’t get you to do what you were supposed to do one way, she’d come up with another way.  And manage to have fun doing it , too.

(Photo:  replica of the Nuteena can Jeannie and Byron Dulan used to prank each other for at least 10 years) 

But that also indicates the kind of relationship Jeannie had with her children, Jennifer, Chris, and Holly.  She was not only one over them, ready to mete out lessons, teaching, discipline and punishments at a moment’s notice when needed, but she was also one WITH them.  She prayed with her children, laughed with her children; played jokes on them and games with them, and they on and with her, especially Chris, her son.  She had fun with her children. 

Whenever the adult siblings (Joe and Judy Dent, Betty and Herb Doggette, Claudia and Carl Tibbs, Charles and Gwen White) would travel with Jeannie and Adrian on out of town vacations and trips, they always had to compete for Jeannie’s attention cause she was forever off in a corner on the phone with her kids.  It sometimes seemed as if she spent more time on the phone with them than she did with the adult siblings they were vacationing and traveling with.  It can truly be spoken of Jeannie that her kids were her best friends.

(Photo:  Jeannie with her firstborn, Jennifer Watkins, at the wedding of her nephew, Joe Dent III, to Dr. Alana Harris-Dent on the campus of Hampton University.) 

One thing you learned not to do, especially if you are Jeannie’s handsome son, Chris, was to go to a public restaurant like the Silver Dragon in Oakland CA with the family and friends like Al and Jan Dulan and start teasing your mom, Jeannie, at the table, in public.  Most people would pass it off, or command their child to stop their foolishness and behave themselves.  Not Jeannie.  Jeannie will come right back at you one better with a little more forceful tease.  And if you’re foolish enough to try to out-tease Jeannie, in moments you found yourself in a full-on food fight.  At the table! In public!  In front of other patrons.  Slinging food at each other in a restaurant!  With Adrian trying desperately, but vainly, to contain the chaos and uncontrolled excitement.  To Adrian, and shy Jennifer and Holly whose heads were by now under the table, all this was embarrassing enough.  But to Jeannie, that was fun to the max!  THAT was some of the best food your money could buy, food you could throw at your beloved son!  And that, for Jeannie, was fun you could indulge in more than once!  (It actually happened!)

(Photo:  Jeannie with her son, Chris Watkins, at the Von Braun Center, Huntsville AL) 

Jeannie was always so demure, sophisticated, unassuming, and the perfect lady in public and on her job.  But there’s a side of Jeannie that many people never got to see and that was her slap stick humor.  Jeannie loved a good laugh and a good joke.  And, boy, did Jeannie love a good prank!  

One of her favorite was beautifully wrapping huge Christmas gift boxes and placing them under the tree and sitting back and trying her best to contain her laughter as she watched Jenn, Chris, and Holly excitedly tear into those gift boxes, paper flying everywhere, down past the newspaper stuffing only to find a small box of dried cereal at the bottom of the gift box. One look at her kids’ faces in shock and disbelief holding up a box of cereal in one hand and pointing to it  with another hand with an incredulous look that seemed to say, “Mom, is this some kind of mistake?  Can you offer an intelligent explanation for this?” and Jeannie was laughing herself to tears so hard she could hardly breathe.   Subsequent forays into additional Christmas gift boxes with considerably more caution and bated breath now yielded the kids’ more traditional, coveted, gifts.  But Jeannie couldn’t stop laughing at pranking her kids.

(Photo:  Jeannie's children, Jennifer, Chris, and Holly as grade schoolers) 

She could paint a house, outside AND inside, as well as she could take a piece of throw away furniture destined for the city dump, throw it in her trunk and bring it home to repair and reupholster so it looked like it was brand new off the furniture showroom floor.  She could create beautiful decoupage artworks as well she could prepare professional presentations, and execute her office tasks that were flawless in their perfection and professionalism which former co-workers still talk about to this day.      

She skillfully created quilts and blankets which were works of perfection and precision that are cherished by family members as beloved and priceless keepsakes for the rest of their days.  From her needles and sewing machine she hand-made beautiful matching clothing for her husband and her children.  From there it was into her famous kitchen where she could bake and cook sumptuous, delicious meals for a house full of people with the help of her beautiful mother-in-law, Renetta Watkins.

These unforgettable Sabbath meals were washed down by some of the tastiest sassafras/peppermint iced tea you ever tasted that simply tickled and danced around in your throat on its way down, and capped off by a menu of desserts headlined by Mrs. Watkins’ famous homemade strawberry pies.  Jeannie and Adrian often entertained scores of people coming by unannounced, and, no matter the attendance, they always had baskets left over.  Jeannie, Adrian, and Mom Watkins, just like their love for people, their friendliness, and their generosity, NEVER ran out of food, no matter how crowded the house and the number of parked cars that stretched out of the circle and out onto adjoining streets.

And when you were around Jeannie and engaged her in business you’d better be “fit” and have your business act together, too.  You could eat all the food at her table to your heart's content you wanted on Sabbath, and enjoy the fellowship, laughter, and the company, but during the week Jeannie was all about handling your business, and handling it right . . . . and on time!  If you gave your word, made a promise, entered into a contract with Jeannie, she’d hold you to your word.  And if you breached your agreement or broke your promise, you’d hear from Jeannie!  If you agreed to do work for Jeannie she expected you to complete your project not only within budget but on time!

Charles White (Jeannie’s brother in law), Lewis Booth ( a dear family friend), Buster White (Jeannie’s nephew), and even entrepreneur-/landscape artist, Artis Sydney (another family  friend) can testify to this.  All of these good men are expert builders-contractors of excellent reputation and renown in Huntsville, AL.  And all of them can attest that if your promised work was not delivered on time, you could expect a stern letter or 2 of reprimand from Jeannie.  In fact, Artis Sydney promised Jeannie one time he was going to deliver a job to Jeannie.  He ran over schedule and failed to complete the job on time.  We’re not sure if he’d gotten previous letters or not, but the next thing Artis knew, Jeannie is at his house one morning at the ungodly hour of 4:00 a.m., banging on his door and ringing his bell!  That was no problem for Jeannie, of course, cause she’s already up and half way through her work day!  Adrian gets a call from Artis later that day sorrowfully letting him know, “Hey Adrian, you know your wife, Jeannie, was at my house at 4:00 this morning?”

Jeannie taught her children and exhibited to all those around her a phrase she borrowed from Adrian’s father:  “If you don’t have time to do your job right the first time, where are you going to get the time to do it right the 2nd time?”  Cause working around, with, or for Jeannie you WERE going to find the time to either finish the job and/or do it right.

And on top of all this Jeannie exercised and toned her body, ate modestly and healthfully, and treated her obligation to her regular and consistent early to bed early rise rest commitment religiously.

Her healthful, disciplined habits, her careful care of her body and her mind and her faith, are undoubtedly what helped to keep her positive and alive for 10 years after an initial prognosis and placement on medical death row for only 7 months.  After being given a virtual death sentence, Jeannie, with the help of her faith in God and her Bible, cheated and defied death through 6 brain surgeries and 1 lung surgery, radiation and chemotherapy long enough to see her children mature and marry well and bring into the world 4 gorgeous grandchildren. 

Jeannie was a fierce fighter for life, for right, and for good.  And in the end, let the record show, after fiercely fighting it for 10 years, she actually did not die of cancer.  The cancer in her brain was actually in remission; i.e. running away!  She finally succumbed to the cumulative effects of all the toxic, invasive, and agressive treatments from her decade long fight against cancer.  Her physicians who have treated literally 1000s told her and Adrian that the longest anyone in their patient history had survived with a diagnosis similar to Jeannie's was 2 years.  Jeannie outlived their 2nd longest longest surviving brain cancer patient by a factor of 5; i.e. 10 years.

Feisty and FIT Jeannie!

Jeannie early demonstrated a unique ability to diligently organize, carefully plan, meticulously prepare, and thoroughly entertain – always with a smile.  Being fit and ready, mentally, physically, professionally, spiritually, were values that were very important to Jeannie.  She always had her act together, down to the most minute details, on schedule, and ready for the moment.  She selflessly dedicated her life to assiduously remain out of the spotlight behind the scenes poring over the details to do whatever it took to make her superiors in the spotlight look good and ready while she was totally content and self-confident to remain in the background. 

Her brother, Sonny, credits Jeannie with helping him become the first Black student body president of the nearly all white Lynwood Academy back in 1962-63 as his campaign manager.  Jeannie took on that task with a gusto and zest that had rarely, if ever, been seen, organizing students, committees, assigning tasks, creating campaign materials and displays, the likes of which the Academy and its, up to then, nearly all white community had never seen before.

She was exceptionally fastidious and detailed with her work.  One of her earliest jobs had her working as the administrative assistant of the president of a senior housing center in Oakland CA.  She did her work so well and so thoroughly and was so highly valued and appreciated that her boss offered Adrian, her husband, a job managing a senior housing complex at another location.  Adrian and Jeannie were at the time preparing to move their family from Oakland CA to Huntsville AL but delayed their departure at least a year as a result of the pleas from Jeannie’s boss to stay a little while longer. When your boss tries his best to keep you from quitting and moving by offering jobs to your spouse and family because of the exceptional job you are doing, you must be doing something right!  You’re obviously a good “fit!”

Until her illness Jeannie was a bit of a health-conscious fitness nut who conscientiously strived to take care of her own and her family’s physical health.  Until cancer took front and center stage in Jeannie and Adrian’s day to day physical life, Jeannie exercised regularly, ate modestly and healthily, and was never afraid of arduous manual work – of ANY kind.  Jeannie could sew as well as she could chop wood; turn over stubborn soil and plant and keep a weed free garden that was the envy of the neighborhood, a garden so beautiful that Adrian used to proudly pull dinner guests away from the dinner table on tours out to Jeannie’s garden on Sabbath afternoons.  

(Photo:  Jeannie with mom, Alice Berry Dent, and brother, Sonny, at her Lynwood Academy graduation - White Memorial Church, Los Angeles CA) 

Another example of Jeannie’s feistiness.  For as long as most family and friends in Huntsville knew her, Jeannie (and Adrian) NEVER locked the side door on the driveway side of their house.  Even for the years when Adrian was working out of town, and the kids were grown and gone away to school, and Jeannie was at home in Huntsville alone, she could be found in her house by herself, sound asleep back there in her big bedroom asleep on her big water bed with that side door on Rosewood Circle ALWAYS unlocked and always open. 

Overnight house guests, Adrian will tell you, would come stay with the Watkins and upon departure they, like any responsible guest, would courteously lock the Watkins’ door behind them when leaving out of respect for their kind hosts.  Whereupon Jeannie and Adrian would come home later and be shocked to find themselves locked out of their own house! By their own house guests!  Jeannie and Adrian apparently didn’t feel a need to keep a key to their own house in their purse or on their persons!  They had no key to give out, cause they had no key to give out!

Like Daniel (6:10) risking his life by brazenly throwing up his windows to pray three times a day in defiance of the king’s death decree, Jeannie lived literally without fear.  When Jeannie read Psalm 91:11, “For he shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in ALL thy ways…” for her the operative word was “all” and Jeannie took God at His word and that promise on faith more literally and practically in her day to day life than anyone most of us has ever known!

For 10 years as she battled to stay alive, fearless, feisty Jeannie never expressed fear, dismay, or depression.  She was often heard to say, “I’m ready whenever God says it’s time for me to go.”

FEISTY Jeannie! 

(Photo:  Jeannie speed boating with Sonny on the Chesapeake Bay) 

Later in adulthood, Jeannie continued to demonstrate her feistiness by developing the habit of getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning and hitting the streets of Huntsville for her daily aerobic walking in the wee hours in the dark, alone, walking, just as she did decades earlier in LA on that one scary occasion as a pre-school toddler over 60 years before.  Gwen, Claudia, her sisters, and Carol and Debbe, her cousins, would try to warn her against the danger but to no avail.  Jeannie stubbornly demonstrated her unquestioning faith in her God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by simply replying to their warnings, “My God takes care of me.”

Adrian says that Jeannie did not have the habit of rising and retiring early when they first married 45 years ago.  He remembers her reading counsel somewhere in the Bible and/or the writing of Ellen G. White, and making a conscious decision as a young woman to develop the habit of retiring and rising early, a habit she faithfully developed and maintained throughout her years. 

Jeannie had evidently read Proverbs 31:15 which describes the virtuous woman as one who rises up while it is still night.  She’d also apparently read in her Bible and in one of her favorite books, the Desire of Ages, how her Savior, Jesus, rose early before dawn to pray.  And it appears she read Ellen G. White’s counsel in many places that we should “Observe regular habits of rising early.” She read further that Ellen G. White, offering herself as an example, “retired very early that was her habit. …. I know of no one who is as diligent as she (EGW) was, getting up at 2, 3, or 4 o’clock in the morning, and working until after sundown. She retired very early, that was her habit, and then early in the morning she would arise and begin her writing. You would find her, like all the prophets, rising early and doing her work.”  (TRY 217.2)  Ellen G. White would have been proud of Jeannie! 

The family still chuckles remembering the time at a Thursday night Oakwood Alumni Weekend UNCF Banquet when Jeannie, seated up front at the banquet hall at Dr. Baker’s president’s table in front of 100’s at Von Braun Center, was seen with her hands folded in her lap and her chin on her chest, not dozing or nodding, but sound asleep!  While others were reveling, it was obviously way past Jeannie’s customary bedtime.

On the other hand! On any given morning of any given day, by the time you, dear reader, and the rest of the world were awakening, and many of last night’s revelers were still sleeping, Jeannie would have long been up, at it, and half way into and done with the chores of her day. She wasn’t just up reading or studying or having devotion, she did those things and got stuff done, too. By the time you were ready for breakfast, Jeannie was ready for lunch! 

When they were young children, Sonny nicknamed Jeannie “Little Black Eyes” because when he would upset Jeannie or get her mad her eyes would get big and menacing and she would flash those eyes so rapidly at him all he could call her was “Little Black Eyes.”  He will also tell you that when bad boys in the neighborhood would threaten Sonny, especially a neighborhood rapscallion named “Little Hiram,”  Jeannie wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a board or a stick and chase “Little Hiram” or any other of Sonny’s neighborhood tormentors down the street and back to the safety of their own homes.  You didn’t mess with Jeannie’s only brother without risking your life or limb!  Jeannie was a fighter if she had to be, scared of nobody who was totally unafraid and perfectly willing to take on boys as well as girls; it made no difference to Jeannie.  Feisty and fearless from a young age. 

(Photo: Jeannie as a grade schooler with the family dog, ChiChi, at our home on 115th St, Los Angeles)

Jeannie’s older cousin, Carol Millet Byars, describes the day Jeannie arrived home from the hospital, screaming at the top of her lungs; exerting such effort, that she was “as red as a beet,”. This proved to be indicative of an inherent feistiness, which Jeannie already possessed, which would endure throughout her lifetime, and was an early portent, of things to come.  Demonstrating this feistiness, at the tender pre-school age of nearly 4 ½, Jeannie, (not seeking permission) successfully evaded the watchful eyes of her grandmother, Ursula Berry, and quietly slipped out of the house, in a marked determination to make her way to school at the Los Angeles Academy, where every other member of her close-knit family spent the day.  Her father, Joseph Dent, Sr., was the principal; her mother, Alice Berry Dent, was the first-grade teacher; her aunt, Ursula Berry Millett, was the second-grade teacher; and her uncle, Dr. Garland Millett, taught in the Academy.  Furthermore, her siblings, Gwen, Claudia, and Sonny; her cousins, Carol and Garland Millet; and her future brother-in-law, Charles White, (Gwen's boyfriend), were all students at the school.

Unable to comprehend why she should be left behind at home, she reasoned, “Since none of my family members will take me to school with them, I’ll walk there. . . by myself.”  And, remarkably, her little 4-year-old feet carried her nearly two miles, across the busy, dangerous streets of Los Angeles, (from her home on 115th Street, near Imperial Highway) to El Segundo Blvd.

It was her brother, Sonny, who, to his complete astonishment, first caught sight of Jeannie, inexplicably at the school … hot, sweaty, nosed pressed against the glass, peering into the window of her mother’s first grade classroom. Feisty! At age 4!

(Photo:  Jeannie as a pre-school toddler at Gwen's Los Angeles Academy graduation.  Photo taken by James Melancon.) 

Feisty. Fit. Funny. Friendly. Faithful. Just a few of the words that describe the amazing life and wonderful character, of Phyllis Jean Dent-Watkins, a.k.a. “Jeannie.”  The last of the children born into the family of Joseph Dent, Sr., and his wife, Alice Berry Dent, Jeannie was deftly delivered into the world by her cousin, Carl A. Dent, M.D., on May 16, 1947, at the White Memorial Hospital, in Los Angeles, California. Lovingly welcomed into the Dent household by her three older siblings, Gwen, Claudia, and Joe, Jr., Jeannie, perfectly, rounded out the family. Well educated, Jeannie was proud to be an alumnus of Los Angeles Academy, Lynwood Academy, Oakwood College, and Pacific Union College. Her career path includes her years as an educator; as well as, her years of service to Oakwood University as Administrative Assistant to Dr. Timothy McDonald, and Dr. Delbert Baker. She found her greatest calling, however, during the years she spent as a stay-at-home mom, with Jennifer, Christopher, and Holly, her beloved children.  On March 02, 2017, a few months shy of her 70th birthday, Jeannie closed her eyes for the last time, in well-deserved rest; and now, peacefully sleeps in Jesus.

The following stories are based on recorded interviews with family members: her sisters, Gwen White, Claudia Tibbs, and Betty Doggette; her cousins, Carol Byars, Debbe Millet, and Pat Robertson; her children, Jennifer, Christopher, and Holly; and, an hour-long interview with Adrian Watkins, her husband of 45 years.

You, also, are cordially invited to share your own "Jeannie story", by clicking on the "Stories" tab above. 

(Photo:  Jeannie as a student on the campus of Oakwood College in the 1960's )