Carl Walter Louis Watkins

Carl Walter Louis Watkins

May 1, 2021

Carl Walter Louis Watkins, 92, passed  away peacefully at his home on Saturday, May 1, 2021. He was a resident of League City, Texas and formally a resident of Dickinson, Texas and Newport News, Virginia. Carl served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theater at the end of WWII. After being honorably discharged from the Army, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

Carl’s career with the space program began in 1955 at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia and would span over the next 36 years that included him moving to Houston, Texas in the early 1960’s with the inception of the Johnson Space Center. During his career with NASA, Carl worked  as an Aerospace Engineer  on several programs including the  Mercury,  Gemini and Apollo programs. 

He particularly enjoyed studying lunar mobility and later in his career served as  Operations Project Manager for the SAIL Operations Office, Shuttle Avionics Integration Division. After retiring from NASA in 1990, Carl worked for Northrop Grumman until 1994. Throughout his life he had a passion for nature and the outdoors that included hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing, and birding. He loved to play tennis and spent many years on the tennis court with friends at Bay Area Racquet Club. In later years, Carl’s dream of owning a sailboat came true, and he enjoyed sailing Galveston Bay and was a crew member in several blue water sailing trips. When not on the tennis court or on the water, Carl was an avid reader and history buff.

Carl’s kindness toward others, positivity, contagious smile, and sense of humor made him a person everyone loved and cherished.   Everyone he met was instantly “family.” He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

Carl is preceded in death by Julia R. Watkins, his loving wife of 52 years, his parents Austin F. Watkins, Sr. and Phyllis M. Edwards, his brothers Austin F. Watkins, Jr. and Norvell E. Watkins, and sister Jean W. Thomas. He is survived by his brother Allen H. Watkins and wife Kathy of Ashville North Carolina; his children Austin F. Watkins III of Santa Fe, Texas, daughter Laura E. Bowers and husband, Mark of Taylor, Texas, and daughter Jennifer L. Watkins of Dickinson, Texas and many nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.  A service will be held at a later date.

The post Carl Walter Louis Watkins appeared first on Crowder Funeral Home.