Lion of the Week

Helen Watkins

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The Lion of the Week is Helen Watkins. Helen is a native of Franklin and Williamson County, having been born and reared here. She was the daughter of Albert and Bessie Hood. Her father was a farmer. She and her family lived on Columbia Avenue

Helen appreciates the fact that she could grow up in Franklin. She recalls being able to come to movies at the Franklin Theater and walking home at night by herself. Franklin was a safe and friendly environment at that time.

She was a graduate of Franklin High School, class of 1959. This was the second graduating class at the High School on Hillsboro Road (5th Ave. N) that has just been torn down. When she was a freshman Franklin High was on Columbia Avenue next to the Carter House. That school was struck by lightning and burned down.

Helen started her banking career with the Williamson County Bank in 1963. She worked there for 33 years through many mergers. When she left in 1996 it was still NationsBank. She went from there to the Franklin National Bank and stayed there until it stopped being Franklin National Bank. Then she came to the Cumberland Bank in 2004 where she now works as the Customer Service Representative. As you can see, she worked on three corners of the public square in Franklin Tennessee for her entire career. She enjoys her work at the Cumberland bank where she also works with other Lions, Jody Bowman, Frances Whittemore and Al Gregory

She is married to Tandy Watkins. Most of Tandy's working life was with Sealtest Ice Cream. They have three children.
. . .Their son, Steve, is a land surveyor.
. . .Their daughter, Debbie Cameron, helps run the Cameron businesses. She has two children. Timmie, aged 20, who works in the business with her, and Lydia, aged 18, is a student at Belmont College.
. . .Their daughter, Rebecca Peterson, is married to Duane Peterson, a psychiatrist. She is a medical technician at Baptist Hospital. They have two young children Seth and Alexandria who are five and six years old respectively.

Helen feels that she is fortunate to live in Franklin and to have all her children and grandchildren within about 5 miles from her home.

Helen loves to travel. She enjoys traveling with the Cumberland Bank Group's Travel Club. One of the groups is in Alaska on a trip right now, which she did not get to take. She is also a member of the Heritage Church of Christ. This is a small and newly formed church currently meeting in the Moore Elementary school. They hope to build a building out there in the near future.

Helen became a Lion at the invitation of Mr. Nathan Sawyer. Nathan invited her to come and she protested that the Lions did not allow women members. Mr. Sawyer assured her that they certainly did, and she became one of the earliest women members of the club. She recalls that Jim Stephenson was still a member at that time along with Shearer Ervin

Although her work load keeps her from being as active now as she would like to be, Helen was very active when she first came into Lions quite a number of years ago. She has never held an office in the club but she has prided herself on being a "worker bee", participating in many events. She recalls working at the very first Franklin on the Fourth some years ago. She remembers that in that first year it was on the corner of the square and the music was presented by the choir of First Baptist Church. It was a program of patriotic music. Helen hopes that in the near future she will significantly reduce her work schedule, perhaps even go to part-time, and then she will be able to attend more meetings and participate more.

Through the years Helen has contributed much to the Lions and to her community.

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