Reba Dale Watkins Mangham

This past week, Reba Dale Watkins Mangham escaped the bounds of this mortal life and rejoined her beloved husband Bill (Weldon), who left this physical world only recently. It is possible that, as you read this, the two of them are walking along a beach on the Texas Gulf Coast, delighting in the salty sea breeze, and looking for the next unique seashell in the sand.
Reba Dale Watkins Mangham was born on March 7, 1927 in Galveston, Tx, the daughter of Benjamin and Vera Watkins. As a young girl, she liked to tease her older brother, Edward, at times playing pranks on him. She loved animals, especially Snooper, her cocker spaniel. She spent many happy hours along the Galveston shoreline. For her entire life, she relished and happily shared the memory of riding a horse across the sand, and she kept collections of seashells in a place where she could see them every day—her kitchen. Reba was a fine cook in the best southern style, and family members remarked especially about her biscuits and her fig preserves. Reba also had an artistic side, painting in her younger days and coloring intricate pictures in later times. A tireless worker, she kept a tidy home and enjoyed a long career in the banking business.
Although she met Bill somewhat later in life, they thoroughly enjoyed nearly 40 years together, camping, playing the domino game of “42” with friends and family, and after their respective retirements, driving cars for a rental car company. Their conversation would become animated as they described the challenges and adventures on the road, moving cars from one location to another. Reba’s eyes would light up as Bill began a story, and she would chime in with details of her own. Reba and Bill often hosted “42” parties and, according to those who were fortunate enough to be there, the hosts often won.
Reba was a grateful and valued member of the Greggton United Methodist Church, a church and community that provided true friendship and, when needed, help and support. Our mortal lives often include both joy and pain, and Reba’s was no different. She had greater than her share of hardship in her life for reasons that were not her fault, by any means. Without reservation, she cared for others, often at great cost to herself.
Reba Dale Mangham was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin and Vera Watkins, her brother and sister-in-law, Edward and Pat Watkins, her nephew Chris Watkins, and a cousin, John Watkins. She is survived by her adopted daughter, Lisa Hays, her stepdaughters Gail Forsyth of Wyoming and Sharon Sager of Garland, her nephew, Charles Watkins, of Marble Falls, her cousin, Joe Watkins of Gladewater, and many loving grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great nieces.
A celebration of Reba’s life will take place at 1:00 P.M, on Wednesday, March 31, at Greggton United Methodist Church of Longview. The remains of her mortal body will be interred at the Union Grove Cemetery in Upshur County, where many of her ancestors (Mings and Watkins families) also rest.