Remembering Watters’ Founder

Watters Garden Center Founder Loved Making His Community Beautiful

On Tuesday, Feb. 15, the Quad Cities lost Harold Leroy Watters at age 84, the man who founded Watters Garden Center and added life and beauty to the area.

Harold was born in Wellington, Ohio, to doting parents Richard and Edna Watters, on March 17, 1937. Reportedy, his mother often said, “Harold has ‘ants in his pants,’ describing the amount of energy he had and always being in motion. He grew up playing the saxophone, hunting and fishing and playing ball. He did landscaping for the neighbors so he could buy his first car.

He took his girlfriend, Lorna England, to the Wellington High School Prom. The two married a year after they graduated. The high school sweethearts celebrated 65 years of marriage together.

Arizona had been a state just 46 years when Harold and Lorna packed up the station wagon and moved here. Yavapai County was filled with open rangeland and cattle then, and only 12,000 residents lived in Prescott. After 60 years of community service, Harold Leroy Watters was considered a Prescottonian through and through.

The family says there would have been no Watters Garden Center without their founding father Harold Watters. In 1962, he expanded his landscaping company to include a plant nursery. The business was born near the old bowling alley on Plaza Drive in Prescott. The garden center grew as Harold’s family grew, including a pet store and flower shop. Lorna and the couple’s four daughters all pitched in to help. Harold’s love of plants and beautifying his community was integral in all aspects of his life, including family vacations spent touring

Harold Watters was a Prescottonian for 40 years. Courtesy photo

Continued on page 38