Kimball Frease Watkins

Kimball Frease Watkins, aged 93, died September 6th, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, after a short illness.

She was born Ann Kimball Frease, on February 27th, 1932 in Johnstown. An only child, she moved around western Pennsylvania and, briefly, West Virginia, with her parents, the late James Rudolph Frease 3d, who was with the Baltimore & Ohio, and her late mother, the former Maxine Glenn Kibler.

Kim, as she was known by then, graduated from Punxsutawney High School, where, at 5 feet tall, she excelled in basketball and golf, coached by her wily grandfather, Roscoe Kibler, a card sharp and railroad hand, on sandy greens. She attended Wellesley, where she coxed crew and studied English, graduating in 1954.

She became a trainee for Life magazine, later interviewing, for long pieces she reported and wrote, subjects including Maria Callas and Leonard Bernstein. She gained some notoriety for chartering a helicopter to interview, dangling from a boson's chair, the survivors of the Andrea Doria sinking, standing on the deck below; she got the scoop. Grounded, she briefly, and without masthead credit, edited Sports Illustrated during the startup phase.

Kim, having driven her MG home, met Richard James Watkins, a resident, at the urging of both sets of parents. They became engaged on the second date, after a panicked long-distance call to her mother: "you said yes, right?" After marriage in Fairmont, West Virginia, and a long honeymoon trip during which he served as physician on a rubber plantation in Liberia, they settled in Ohio, where he set up a solo practice while she adjusted to the loss of household staff and mongooses. When not golfing, she was busy in community affairs and dabbled successfully in debt arbitrage during the Carter administration. She raised Welsh terriers and a son, who was born with the coroner in attendance, providing anesthesia, his service revolver on his hip.

She and Dick, as Dr. Watkins was known, skied, hiked, and climbed in Colorado, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the Alps. They toured the Rockies in a VW camper.

Recently, Kim has been living in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, with her rescue dog, Abel, out-putting staff on indoor turf.

The MG threw a rod in 1958, predeceasing Dick, whom she loved at least as much, by 50 years. Along with Abel, Kim is survived by her son, James, a physician, and granddaughter, Amy, a student.

The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Wellesley College.

A service will be at St. James Episcopal Church, in Wooster, Ohio October 3rd at 10 AM.