Published in Daily Tribune on April 18 2013
James Dayton Watts age 76 longtime resident of Ferndale and St. Clair died Sunday April 14 2013 at his home in Bloomfield Hills. He was born April 4 1937 in Detroit to the late Dayton Thomas Watts and Mollie Bell Hays. Mr. Watts served in the United States Air Force where he was stationed in 1956 at Kinross Air Force Base and also Hamilton Air Force Base in California before serving in Okinawa Japan during the Korean War. He retired as Detective Lieutenant from the Ferndale Police Department where he served 24 years. He graduated Magnum Cum Laude from Oakland Community College where he taught Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. He was married to the late Patricia Diana Watts in Ferndale and moved to Canada where he was a sales manager for Morse Tools in St. Joseph Ontario. He later moved to St. Clair where he was a manager at Rattle Run Golf Course in East China Township and Black River Country Club in Port Huron. He retired in Bloomfield Hills. Mr. Watts was an active member of the National Fraternal Order of Police; South Oakland County Lodge No. 130 in Ferndale; and the American Legion Charles J. Fulton Post in St. Clair. He is survived by his daughter Kathy (Craig) Truskey of Midland Va.; sons Jim Jr. (Maureen) of Bloomfield Hills; Tom (Kim) of Royal Oak; and Edward 'Ted' of Grosse Pointe; two sisters Virginia Joy Vanover of Clinton Township and Peggy (Hugh) Tucker of Fraser; eight grandchildren Kourtney (Tony) Hanak of San Francisco Calif. Jeff (Renee) Gamble of West Bloomfield Dayton Watts of Chicago Ill. Mac Watts of Bloomfield Hills Sydney Watts of Mount Pleasant Mallory Watts of Ann Arbor Regan Watts of East Lansing and Harrison Watts of Royal Oak; and one great- granddaughter Ellison Gamble of West Bloomfield. He was predeceased by his wife Patricia Diana Watts; brother Ken Hood; and brother -in-law David Vanover. Visitation will take place 3-8 p.m. Thursday April 18 and 10 a.m. Friday April 19 at Spaulding & Curtin Funeral Directors 500 W. 9 Mile Road in Ferndale. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Private burial will take place at a later time at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Fraternal Order of Police South Oakland County Lodge No. 130 2233 Burdette Street Ferndale MI 48220.spauldingcurtin.com.






