William Michael 'Mike' Watkins

William Michael “Mike” Watkins, 61, of Rad­nor, passed away unex­pect­edly Thurs­day after­noon (Oct. 4, 2012) as he was har­vest­ing his crops.

Mike was born Sept. 24, 1951, to Harold V. Watkins and Char­lotte A. (Osborn) Watkins and was a life­long res­i­dent of Delaware County, liv­ing most of his life in Rad­nor Town­ship for which he was very proud. Mike’s love for his com­mu­nity of Rad­nor led him to run for town­ship trustee where he served for 22 years. Mike grad­u­ated from Buck­eye Val­ley High School in 1969 where he received var­sity let­ters in foot­ball, bas­ket­ball and base­ball. His senior year he was the recip­i­ent of the Hardin Memo­r­ial Tro­phy which gave recog­ni­tion to the top scholar/athlete of the class. In 1995, he was inducted into the Buck­eye Val­ley High School Hall of Fame. After grad­u­at­ing from The Ohio State Uni­ver­sity in 1974, Mike began a career in sales but his ambi­tion was to own a busi­ness of his own and he real­ized that dream in 1980 when he and his wife Teresa, pur­chased a farm in Rad­nor Town­ship. Mike built a suc­cess­ful grain and hog busi­ness, and in 2008 was rec­og­nized by the Delaware Area Cham­ber of Com­merce as the “Farm Fam­ily of the Year.” Mike’s pas­sion for farm­ing was matched by his love of golf, and he enjoyed play­ing many rounds with his close friends at Mill Creek Golf Course. He and Teresa liked trav­el­ing and espe­cially loved Marco Island, Fla., and Lake Tahoe, Calif. Mike was loved by his fam­ily and friends and rec­og­nized as a gen­er­ous and loyal per­son, whose life reflected his strong work ethic. He will be greatly missed.

Mike is sur­vived by his wife of 39 years, Teresa; his father, Harold; a brother, Den­nis (Julie); two sis­ters, Denise (Mike) Edwards and Michele (Drew) Bright; and sev­eral nieces and nephews.

He was pre­ceded in death by his mother and his sis­ter, Linda Sue.

Call­ing hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Tues­day at the Snyder-Rodman Funeral Cen­ter, 1510 W. William St. at Val­ley­side Drive, Delaware, and where funeral ser­vices will be held at 10 a.m. Wednes­day, Oct. 10. Bur­ial will be at the ceme­tery in Rad­nor, fol­lowed by a lun­cheon at the Rad­nor Com­mu­nity Center.

Memo­r­ial con­tri­bu­tions can be made to Rad­nor Town­ship Ceme­tery, in mem­ory of Mike Watkins, 4061 SR 203, Rad­nor, OH 43066. The fund will be used for the con­tin­ued beau­ti­fi­ca­tion of the cemetery.

Con­do­lences may be expressed at snyderfuneralhomes.com.

Posted by Staff Reports Obits on Oct 7 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.