Douglas Watts

Doug, age 78, and long-time resident of Culleoka, TN passed away peacefully at his residence Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Doug was born in Wichita, KS, but the family quickly moved to Pecos, TX where he grew up. He is preceded in death by parents, Hugh, and Vida (Anderson) Watts, and eldest sister, Louetta (Watts) Richards. He and wife, Teri, were members of New Hope Community Church in Brentwood for 25 years. During that time, he served as CFO, on the Elder Board, Deacon Board, and on the finance team. In 2009 he was given a plaque by NHCC recognizing his exemplary service for three years on the elder board. He also sang on the praise team for many years and was in many church plays, one being “New Testament rewind”, where he narrated with his deep voice portraying the voice of God.

Doug attended Rice University on a band scholarship playing the French Horn. He delayed finishing his education to serve our country in the United States Army in Viet Nam before being honorably discharged (Doug always said to beware of him because he had hand to hand combat training). He then began working for Haskins and Sells in the New York office in July of 1968. While working for Haskins and Sells, he completed his undergraduate degree from Baruch, NYU and then received his CPA from the University of Education, State of New York, February 5, 1975. There were several big 8 accounting firms that underwent mergers. Haskins and Sells became Deloitte, and in 1986 Deloitte merged with Touche Ross and became Deloitte and Touche. He made partner in May 1981.  He worked overseas in the Belgium office for 4 years from 1981-1985, and Saudi Arabia from 1985-1991 as partner in charge. He returned to the states in 1991 due to the Gulf War and was transferred to the Deloitte and Touche Tulsa, OK office as one of the audit partners, where he met Teri, the love of his life, and where they became engaged and married. Doug made a speech at their wedding rehearsal all about the similarities of Doug from Deloitte and Teri from Touche. He worked in the Tulsa office from 1991 to 1994 when he was made CFO and Partner in charge of the Hermitage office in Hermitage, TN where he remained as an acting partner upon retiring May 3, 2004 to run the farm full time. Since his retirement the company name has now been changed to Deloitte.

He is survived by his loving and devoted wife, Teri, daughters, Tina (David) Pilkinton of Spring Hill, TN, Tammy (Erick) Hargrove of Lewisburg, TN, and Morgan (James) Guthrie of Nashville, TN; sister, Sondra (Watts) Bolinger of Kettering, OH; Sister and brother-in-law, Chuck and Teresa Parrish of Tulsa, OK; and grandchildren, Makinzie Mitchell, Jadelyn Mitchell, Kyle Pilkinton, Chase Pilkinton, and Edwin Guthrie along with many nephews and nieces as well as grand nephews, and nieces.

Things Doug loved:

First and foremost, God: Matthew 22:37 (ESV) And he said to him “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

Family: Doug attended almost every game, play, or school event for all the grandkids. They were taken on special trips and vacations, as well as several trips to see Vanderbilt play in the College Baseball World Series. He also traveled from the U.S. to Canada with Teri for her TuneTown Show Chorus competitions.

Flying: Doug received his private pilot’s license in 1992 and owned two single-engine private planes, first a Cessna cardinal, then a Cessna 210, Which he flew until health issues would not allow. He was an excellent pilot and proved that with a forced landing in the Cessna 210 in 2000 when a brand-new throttle cable on the plane busted and had to be set down on a farm in OK. Four souls on board walked away totally unscathed but the plane did not fare so well. Emergency law enforcement, firemen and local news referenced the scripture on the tail of the plane as being their guardian angel, which read; Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Farm: He received his Master Beef producer certificate in 2014, and Advanced Master Beef Producer certificate in 2015 after studying long and hard. He took very seriously all aspects of farming, where he raised beef cattle on their 160-acre farm.

Ski Trips: Doug and Teri’s annual January ski trip to Colorado for most of their 29 years of marriage was one of the huge highlights of the year for Doug. The only time Doug worked out, other than keeping up with, and walking the farm, was three months before the ski trip to “prepare for the higher altitude”!

Vanderbilt: He was a huge fan of Vanderbilt athletics where he held season tickets for football and basketball for years and traveled to the Baseball world series every time Vandy was there, always taking all or some of the grandchildren!

TPAC and Nashville Symphony: They were season ticket holders for many years; they loved music in every capacity!

Doug’s high school years: Doug was on the school paper staff his freshman year and in band throughout his high school years, as well as Master Sargent of the band his senior year. He was on the freshman football team, but suffered from a case of scarlet fever, which kept him homebound for some time. He was in several competition music groups (“The Shadows” (2nd place), “Sensations”, and “Carrico’s Pet Rejects (3rd place).” He was Sophomore Student Council VP and was on the Senior Annual Staff his Sophomore through Senior years. He was part of the Spanish Debate Club. In his junior year he was Class Editor on the school paper staff. In both junior and senior year, he was in the All-Region Band Play Cast. He finished his senior year as Track Manager, Student Council VP, and Senior Who’s Who (Best Student of the year) for Trigonometry and Band. Doug was extremely intelligent, very active and always a leader!

Doug made his “dash” count (July 21, 1944--July 12, 2023)! His was a life well lived! Doug was a loving, great, and godly man who will be sorely missed by those who knew him and loved him. We thank all our friends and family for loving us, and for being our friends, encouragers, and prayer warriors throughout this season, and always. God’s blessings to you and yours in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Celebration of life service will be determined at a later date.

Doug suffered from Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), with aphasia, which is a common cause of dementia, a group of disorders that occur when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain are lost. This causes the lobes to shrink. FTD can affect behavior, personality, language, and movement, so please consider sending donations in Doug’s memory to: www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/frontotemporal-dementia