PORTLAND — J. Willis Watkins, a co-founder of the Anderson-Watkins Insurance Agency in Westbrook who had a passion for golf and generously gave back to the community, died on Tuesday. He was 95.

Mr. Watkins began his career as an insurance agent for Liberty Mutual in Boston. In 1944, he moved to Maine and took a position at the Frank Snell Insurance Agency in Portland.

He and a business partner, Lloyd Anderson, bought the agency from Snell and founded the Anderson-Watkins Insurance Agency. In 1969, they moved the agency from Congress Street to Brighton Avenue. Mr. Watkins took an early retirement in 1972.

The agency still operates today, on Central Street in Westbrook.

Chuck Hennessey, president and co-owner of the insurance agency, said Mr. Watkins and his wife attended the company’s annual gathering on Little Sebago Lake until a few years ago.

Hennessey said that every so often, Mr. Watkins would visit the office to catch up.

“We are very sad here,” Hennessey said Wednesday. “He was special, as was Lloyd. I hold both of them in high regard.”

Mr. Watkins and Eleanor Watkins were married for 64 years. The couple met at Deering High School in Portland. She was a freshman and he was a senior who went to great lengths to get her attention.

“My father was boosted up into a window during the freshman dance,” said Donna Luce of Salem, S.C., the oldest of his four children. “He jumped onto the track floor and landed right next to the principal. He told the principal he wanted to keep an eye on my mom. The principal told him if he behaved, he could stay.”

They dated for eight years before getting married in 1940. Luce said her parents worked well together, maintaining a healthy balance between work, outside interests and their family.

“He and our mother had a special relationship,” Luce said. “Always, if possible, we had our meals together at night. … It was a good environment to grow up in.”

Mr. Watkins was dedicated to serving the community. He served a term in the Maine Legislature and a short stint on the Windham Board of Selectmen. He also was an active member of Windham Hill Church, serving as chairman of the board of trustees and the building committee for Fellowship Hall.

Luce said her father was the oldest and most longstanding member of the church.

“He loved this community,” she said. “This is the place where he lived and he gave. In turn, he received a strong fellowship from his neighbors.”

After Mr. Watkins retired at the age of 57, he golfed regularly and enjoyed making miniature furniture and studying genealogy. Luce said her father golfed until he was 90 years old and couldn’t see the ball anymore.

When he was 80, he made a hole-in-one at a course in Venice, Fla. Luce said she loved playing golf with her father.

“I tried to beat him my whole life,” she said. “I never could. He was a challenge.”

Mr. Watkins’ health declined in the last few years. His daughter said she will miss him dearly.

“I’ll miss his smile,” she said. “He told us every day that he loved us.

Staff Writer Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:
mcreamer@pressherald.com

 

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