b. December 24, 1911bp. Friendship, Crockett Co., Tenn.
m. April 14, 1946, Mary Golden Azbill
(b. August 27, 1912, d. August 31, 1994)
d. January 27, 1976
pb. Ebenezer Cem., Malesus, Tenn.
Mack was the oldest son, fourth child of Ulrich Armstrong Watlington and Jennie Sophronia Hammond, grandson of Mack Rob and Eula Daniel W. and Orson Ward and Mary E. Jameson Hammond, all of Madison Co., Tenn. He died Jan. 27, 1976, 9 P.M. in Jackson-Madison County General Hospital after a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Nearly eight years previously he had suffered a similar but slight stroke that left him partially debilitated during his last years, but able to continue active work with Watlington Bros. General Contractors, of which he was co-founder and Vice President.
Some weeks following his birth the family moved to the Seth Sorrell farm near the Forked Deer River in Dyer County where Ulrich A. share-cropped in 1912. At the end of 1912 Ulrich A. and the young family returned to Madison Co. and lived with the Hammonds while building a small house on the farm for the family. They moved into the new frame house in the year 1913 and lived there until 1930, working the Hammond farm and renting adjoining land for sharecropping. Here Mack grew to manhood, attending Malesus Methodist Church and public school and helping his father and grandparents on the family dairy and general agriculture farm.
After finishing the tenth grade at Malesus, Mack was asked to stay out of school for one year and help full-time with the growing family. He was to alternate years with the next son according to one version, but Mack stayed out of school to help keep the others in school.
He worked as dairyman, gardener, auto mechanic, blacksmith and forestry nurseryman. During the Depression years he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps under agreement to be a foreman in the large nursery of the Camp ``Pat Harrison'' north of Jackson, Tennessee, a job which he excelled in and where he served for many years. In his last year or so with them he was paid by the Soil Conservation Service of the Federal Government.
As the war approached Mack worked in carpentry construction in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. In Florida and Dover, Alabama, Mack worked in company with his brothers Paul and Sam, who later formed a part of the Watlington Bros. enterprise in Jackson.
Mack was one of the first of eight sons to enter military service in World War II. He was assigned first to a Barrage Balloon Battalion and trained at Paris, Tenn., then served at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, on the Atlantic coast and later at Santa Monica, California on the Pacific. He was then transferred to a military police training battalion at Ft. Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. After severe training in very hard winter conditions he shipped with his outfit to England and then to France to be assigned to General George Patton's Third Army before it penetrated into Germany. Mack saw lots of action in the last months of the war in Europe. Then his unit was sent by train to southern France from whence he was embarked via the Panama Canal and the Hawaiian Islands for Okinawa where he was stationed at the time of the Okinawa typhoon in Oct. 1945.
In Okinawa his brother Sam was able to locate him. Sam was reassigned to an Engineers Battalion who later went on to Seoul Korea. Mack was repatriated from Okinawa to the States and was discharged honorably as a staff Sergeant at Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas in 1946.
He knew what he wanted when he got home. In Memphis he went to his brother Herman's home and asked for Golden Azbill. He was soon in touch with her as she worked in Memphis and he soon convinced her that he wanted to marry and settle down. They married April 14, 1946 and made their home on the family farm while he returned to carpentry work. One of his first tasks was to start building a home nearby which was built little by little over the next ten years. In 1947 he formed a partnership with his brother Samuel and began contracting on any and all kinds of jobs to keep a crew working. In many cases the crew consisted of Sam, Mack and a helper.
``Watlington Bros.''
began in the Spring of 1947, after Sam and Mack both had worked some
months for other contractors and had renewed contacts with former
friends in the building business. They tackled all sorts of repair
work, roofing, and even moved an old home in Lexington with very
primitive tools because it offered work for them and a crew for a few
weeks. Doug Rivers, Sam's brother-in-law, had some experience in this
and helped them.
Mack had purchased an old Dodge touring car after coming home. It must have been a 1930-33 model and Golden learned to drive it. Cars and tools were hard to find and expensive to buy. Neither Sam nor Mack had a single power tool when they formed their partnership. Sam and Mary had a 1941 Chevrolet sedan which they had held on to through the war years. Both had basic carpentry tools but Papa found them borrowing everything on the farm at one time or other--including the forge of the simple blacksmith shop.
Mack and Golden took their place at the Malesus Methodist Church. Golden had been a member of the large Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. They became interested in church and community and Mack later took a very active part in the Boys Scout activities, earning a Silver Beaver Award in later years for his faithful support of Scouting in West Tennessee. His and Golden's contribution to the local church was recognized following his death by giving his name to the new fellowship hall of the church. He was buried in Ebenezer Cemetery of Malesus community near his parents.
He had wide contacts and friends in Jackson and Madison County and is fondly remembered for the joy he added to the daily life of many people.
-- Clinica, San Isidro, Perú
b. August 27, 1912m. April 14, 1946, Ulrich Mack Watlington
d. August 31, 1994
pb. Ebenezer Cem., Malesus, Tenn.
Golden Azbill Watlington died about 2 P.M. August 31 at her home after a lingering battle with a malignancy. During the final stages of her illness the treatments were stopped and Golden chose to live and die at home. With home nursing care and the loving attention of her sisters, she was able to do so.
Her husband Mack preceded her in death in 1976 and she continued to work and live at their home on Watlington Road. Before their marriage in 1946 she had worked for many years in Memphis with the Memphis Steam Laundry and Linen Supply, located on Court Street near Baptist Memorial Hospital. Her work consisted of checking in and out delivery and pick-up drivers, who reported to her coming in and going out. She had a lot of records to keep and she was good at detailed records. This later served well in church and business responsibilities with Watlington Brothers. While in Memphis she was a member of Bellevue Baptist Church during the pastorate of the renowned Rev. Robert G. Lee.
Beloved by both her families, Golden was a loving and helpful companion. Denied children of their own, Mack and Golden were generous in helping their relatives, both young and old. Families, church and community were important to them always. Golden and Mack are fondly remembered and will be greatly missed.
As the details of Golden's estate were settled the blessings of the daily labors of Mack and Golden were shared with a large number of family members in both the Azbill and Watlington families and with the Malesus Methodist Church. In this way they continue to bless us in their absence. For many years before his death Mack had encouraged and helped finance our genealogical studies and even in their absence they have thus helped our story toward publication.