Watts, Donita Oakley

Donita Oakley Watts, 97, formerly of Clinton, Ark., and Mount Vernon, Iowa, a resident of Linn Manor, died there Friday, Feb. 4, 2011. Funeral Mass: 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marion. Family will greet friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Center in Marion, with a 7:30 p.m. prayer vigil, and one hour before services Tuesday at the church. Graveside committal: 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Woodlawn Cemetery, Oelwein.

Survivors include her children, Thomas (Sandra) Oakley of Shellsburg, Patrick (Brenda) Oakley of Cedar Rapids, Mary Jane (Darwin) Lewis of Odessa, Texas, and Lawrence (Karen) Oakley of Cedar Rapids; 20 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson.

She was preceded in death by her husbands; parents; a daughter and son-in-law, Catherine (John) Hess; a granddaughter, Pamela Zimmerman; brother, Donald Wolfe; and two sisters, Kathleen Burke and Lucille Ford.

Donita was born Dec. 23, 1913, in Oelwein, the daughter of Royal “Roy” F. and Edna J. (McDonnell) Wolfe. She graduated from Oelwein High School and Cooks Business College in Oelwein. On June 21, 1937, Donita married Loren F. Oakley. Loren died in 1979. On Oct. 5, 1986, she married Marvin Watts, who died in 2001. Donita worked in the housekeeping department at Cornell College in Mount Vernon for several years before moving to Clinton, Ark., in 1974.

Please sign the online guest book for Donita at  under obituaries.