March 26, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Major Watkin.

Major Watkin was a quiet man, not a normal image of a Salvation Army officer. His wife was little and quiet too so they were a good pair. He worked as the assistant to the head of the Public Relations department, who was Major Flannigan, the father of a good friend of mine, Jeannie. In 1954, I was asked to work in that department for the summer. I helped out doing whatever needed to be done but mostly I worked with Major Watkin. We had lunch together every day, both of us bring lunch from home. His wife fixed his lunch. He was nice to me but I could not imagine how he could put up with his tedious job for the whole year. One day I was asked to fill in for the telephone operator at lunch. In those days there were plugs that had to be connected and pulled out. I was a quick study, they thought, so I soon got the hang of it and was doing great, until Major Flannigan came out to tell me that I just disconnected him when talking to the Chairman of the Board. The call from the big guy came in and I apologized and connected the call to Major Flannigan. But I did it again. Again, no yelling. But I felt terrible. After my shift and was having lunch with Major Watkin, I told him my tale of words. And he giggled. I could have hugged him. The reason why I was thinking about Major Watkin is that the son, Fen Watins just died at 96. Fen was a marvelous musician. He was a whiz on the piano and also was a conductor, arranger and composer. But what he received the Order of Canada for was to run the musical in Prince Edward Island of the Anne of Green Gables story. He was the musical Director for 40 years. It was famous. But right to the end, he played the organ at the Agincourt Corps of The Salvation Army. Major and Mrs. Watkin attended our Corps, Danforth. I knew of the expertise of their son Fen, and I could never fathom how such an outgoing marvelous musician was brought up by those two little people. They did not seem to fit. But this Friday, Fen's funeral will be held at the Agincourt Corps, which used to be Danforth before they moved. Everyone will be sad that Fen will not be playing the organ.