An Ode to William Watson

The following was written by the Gagich and Goff children as an “ode” to William “Bill” Watson who passwed away June 23. Watson served the Wellsburg/Brooke County community as he served as City Attorney for Wellsburg, was on the Boards of the Boy Scouts of America, the House of the Carpenter and the Brooke County United Way, and was an active member of other fraternal organizations including the William Blackstone American Inn of Court and the Kappa Alpha Order’s Hamilton Province Court of Honor.
Ode to the King of Wellsburg.
Once there was a king, very proud and tall,loved by us wee-ones every one and all.
We have a grandma who watched us by the day and told us about the man who stood so tall.
When we would see him on his noon-day stroll, grandma would say, “It’s the King of Wellsburg!” and we would stretch in our little car seats to see him on that day.
So when we were with our parents riding in the car, “There’s the King of Wellsburg!” we would say when we saw him from afar.
And our parents smiled and nodded with grandma’s magic living in our hearts, and they knew of the King of Wellsburg well for all the time to tell.
It was a strange thing, unlike a baseball hat, a funny thing he wore upon his head and on the side were tiny little feathers of black and green and red!
“What is that upon his head?” “A crown”, our grandma said, “A summer panama and winter fedora.” With those tiny little feathers the color of bright, bright red.
Often, we saw him on his walk everywhere in town, checking on his village and the villagers all around.
As we little ones grew older and got up on our feet, we all learned how to curtsey and bow lest we see him on the street.
And so when we saw him how excited we became to line up next to each other and pay homage to the man.
Now there was other magic grandma taught us every day like fairies, trolls and witches that lived on our patch of land and all around the way.
But the best of all the magic was the king of our small town, as we curtsied and bowed as he looked upon us and tipped his crown-hat up and down.
We kids will always know him as the most famous man of all who at noon walked our river town in his amazing fedora crown.
Now the King of Wellsburg has gone on his stroll to the promise land and grandma finally told us he was just a man.
The queen has lost her king and we wanted her to know: as long as we live in this town his lore will only grow.
William Edward Watson was his name, a leader of great fame, but in our world of childhood magic, he will always be the King, his majesty of our little river town, with the red red feathers in his crown.