Sarah Elizabeth "Sister" Gray Watson

CHARLOTTE – “Then to my raptured ear Let one sweet song be given; Let music cheer me last on earth and greet me first in heaven."

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth “Sister” Gray Watson, 96, passed away peacefully with her granddaughters at her bedside at Levine Dickson Hospice House at Southminster in Charlotte.

There will be a funeral service at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Providence Baptist Church with Rev. Dr. Stephen Cook and Rev. Dr. Lee Canipe officiating. 

Interment will be in Red Hill Baptist Church in Polkton at 9:00AM Thursday July 3, 2025.

The family will greet friends following the service at the church.

Sister was born August 29, 1928, in Wadesboro, NC, and was a daughter of the late Astor Holmes Gray, Sr, and the late Leah Ashe Thomas Gray. She was a 1946 graduate of Wadesboro High School. Music, including piano and voice, was her life. She started piano lessons at the age of 10, and her first voice solo was sung at First Baptist Church, Wadesboro.

Sister continued studying piano and voice at Women’s College in Greensboro, which is now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Prior to moving to Charlotte in January 1969, Sister worked as a secretary and member of First Baptist Church, Wadesboro for three years. In Charlotte, she worked for Wilbur, Kendrick, Workman, and Warren Architects.

She later joined Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church and worked as the receptionist and secretary for the late minister, Dr. James S. Potter, for twelve years. After living in Florida for a brief time, she and her husband returned to Charlotte, and she joined Providence Baptist Church, where she served as secretary and receptionist for thirteen years, and she was active in the music ministry of the church.

Sister loved life and lived it to the fullest. She loved singing and sang with the Singing Christmas Tree in Charlotte and was the angel in 1973.

Those who are left to cherish her memory as the song of her life goes on are her son, Marion Smith Watson, Jr.; her grandchildren, Marion Smith Watson, III, Michelle Martin Williamson (Kent Booth), and Ashley Martin Dalton (Tyon Hunter); her great-granddaughters, Sasha Dalton and Trinity Dalton Baker; as well as her nieces and nephews, especially her nephew, Astor Holmes Gray, III.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Marion Smith Watson, Sr. “Shorty”, her daughter, Leah Ashe Watson Martin, and her brother, Astor Holmes Gray, Jr.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Providence Baptist Church, Music Ministry, 4921 Randolph Rd., Charlotte, NC 28211, or to, Hospice House of Southminster, 8919 Park Rd., Charlotte, NC 28210, or to, First Baptist Church, Music Ministry, P.O. Box 423, Wadesboro, NC 28170.

The arrangements are in care of Leavitt Funeral Home and online condolences may be made at www.leavittfh.com