Native and long-time resident of Pensacola, James Brent Watson Jr. died Dec. 21, 2021 after a brief illness. He was 88.

The son of James Brent Watson and Mary Eliot Hanway, he was a grandson of James Campbell Watson and Catherine Merced Brent and great-grandson of early Pensacola leader, businessman, and banker Francis Celestino Brent whose block long Brent and Blount buildings have anchored the Southwest side of Palafox Street since the early 1900s.

Brent was born Oct. 5, 1933, in the old Sacred Heart Hospital on 12th Avenue, the first modern hospital in Pensacola and the first Catholic Hospital in Florida. In his chosen profession of hospital administration, he would 38 years later join Sacred Heart and serve as Director of Human Resources, a position he held for 20 years. He then became the Administrator of the Haven of Our Lady of Peace, the hospital's Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation specialty center. He retired in 2000.

He was a member of Pensacola North Rotary where he was designated a Paul Harris Fellow.

Brent was raised in the halcyon days of post-World War II on North Hill where streets were safe and open fields and uncut woods were claimed by neighborhood kids. His father's workshop was also a gathering spot for his friends. It was under his father's watchful eye that he developed and honed skills in woodworking and learned how to build and care for small engines. These skills carried over into Brent becoming a patient and talented model plane hobbyist with a collection so significant that he was named an honorary U. S. Navy Captain.

Brent attended Pensacola Catholic High graduating in the class of 1952. He attended Florida State and served in the Air Force before graduating from Auburn University in 1959 where he had been affiliated with the Beta Theta chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity.

Brent met Judith Snowden Perkins in 1958 and they married June 25, 1960. Their three daughters would be the light and joy of their lives and give them four grandchildren.

Prior to working in Pensacola, he was employed by Boeing and lived and worked across the northern perimeter of the country and settling for a final posting in Huntsville AL

His love of dancing began in high school when the "locals" gathered at the Terrace on Scenic Highway on weekends learning and showing off intricate steps and moves to the music of the 1950s. He became a popular dance partner and after marriage, he and Judy belonged to several of Pensacola's Mardi Gras organizations.

Brent was a man of great faith and, as were the men in his family before him, a gentleman to his core.

He was pre-deceased by his sister Dreda Grimes and brother-in-law Don Hensarling.

Brent is survived by his wife, Judy, and their daughters and sons-in-law Elizabeth and Bruce Yancy and their daughters May and Grace of Grant FL; Mary Brent Watson and Andrew Woodcock and their children Jacob and Victoria of Winter Springs FL; and Judith and Douglas Jones of Birmingham AL; his brother John Hanway and Jane Watson of Brownsville TN, his sister Catherine Merced Hensarling of Tampa and his brother-in-law Capt. Laurence Hill Grimes USN retired of Gulf Breeze.

A Memorial Service will be celebrated at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church at 9945 Hillview Drive off University Parkway on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at 1:00 pm. The celebrant will be Fr. Raymond Herard. A reception will follow at Azalea Trace.