Jeffrey Watts was born in Portsmouth, NH on February 19th, 1957. He grew up to be a kind, loving, giving, and hard-working man. He took care of his family and this included his father, Don Watts, who he helped through his ordeal with Parkinson's Disease. Jeff fell in love with and married Tracy Watts (Freeman) on February 1st, 1986. Four children followed over the next 12 years, Daniel (1987), Katharine (1993), Melissa (1998), and Michael (1999).
Unfortunately, Jeff was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about 20 years ago and was sent down a hard road. Throughout it all, Jeff maintained his humor and his love of those closest to him. He worked as a mechanic for the majority of his life. He was a master level technician who could diagnose just about anything. Throughout the disease his motor skills deteriorated but that didn't stop his mind. He may not have been able to physically work on cars, but he could still talk you through fixing something no problem! He had a love for movies of just about any kind, classic cars, and animals.
Jeff was a kind man who was an observer more than a center of attention man. Anyone who knows him, knew that he would sit quietly and listen, then out of no where he would say the most off the wall thing. Sometimes he couldn't even get the joke out. He was already laughing too hard to himself!
After a long battle, he passed away peacefully with his wife by his side on December 30th, 2024. We will miss him forever but he will always be with us.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's today. The Foundation is the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, with more than $800 million in high-impact research funded to date.
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