Frank Y. Watson, MD

Frank Y. Watson, MD, 86, a resident of Crane's Mill, West Caldwell and Culver Lake, Frankfort Township, New Jersey died on July 6, 2011, in the Skilled Nursing Facility of Crane's Mill as a result of complications from leukemia and lymphoma. Frank was born on May 18, 1925 in Charlotte, North Carolina , the third of six children born to Edgar (Sam) and Vida Watson (formerly Vida Falls).
Frank, together with his siblings Edgar, Eunice (McCoy), Harvey, Sally (Graf) and Brad grew up on a small farm outside of Charlotte close to what is now Charlotte/Douglas Airport . He attended Berry Hill High School where he played the drums in the band as well as baseball and tennis. He graduated in 1942 and began work counting freight cars for the P & N Railroad.
In 1943, Frank received his parents' permission to volunteer for the Navy and was accepted in the V 12 program, a program to send qualified students to college and medical school Frank was admitted to Duke University where he completed the necessary courses to qualify for medical school. Frank was accepted by the University of Maryland Medical School just as World War II ended and the Navy terminated the V 12 program and discharged him. With assistance from his older brother, Edgar, and his wife, Ginny, his savings, and numerous part time jobs, including that of an aide in an alcoholic sanitarium, Frank enrolled in medical school where he found himself in a class seated one seat over from one of the very few women in the medical school, Carolyn Wolfe of Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Carolyn and Frank graduated from the medical school in 1949 and were married on June 10 in the Chapel at Culver Lake New Jersey prior to commencing their internships at Charlotte Memorial Hospital in Charlotte North Carolina.
In July, 1950, at the commencement of the Korean War, Frank volunteered for active duty in the United States Navy. He was commissioned a lieutenant, jg, and served as a battalion medical officer attached to an artillery unit of the First Marine Division. He participated in numerous military operations with his unit including the amphibious assault at Inchon, the battle for the liberation of Seoul, and the winter offensive into North Korea where his unit supported the Marines as they broke out of the encirclement by the Chinese Army at the Chosin Reservoir. Frank returned to the United States in June of 1951 and remained on active duty with the US Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Yard until his discharge in June of 1952.
After completing his residency at Charlotte Memorial Hospital in 1956, Frank, Carolyn and their young family moved to Glen Ridge as Frank took a position as the surgical pathologist at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York and on the faculty of SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
In 1961 Frank entered private practice as a pathologist at Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge, the same hospital where Carolyn's father, uncle and grandfather had been members of the medical staff. The same year, Frank and Carolyn took into their homes and hearts three teenagers who were refugees from Cuba: Nydia Maciques (Webb), Jose Borrajero and Obel Borrajero. Frank also became a clinical associate professor of pathology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and became Director of Laboratories at Mountainside in 1973. While at Mountainside, Frank served as president of the medical staff, an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees of the New Jersey Hospital Association, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Medical Society of New Jersey. He served as an alternate delegate of the Medical Society of New Jersey to the American Medical Association House of Delegates at the same time Carolyn was an alternate delegate to the AMA House of Delegates as a delegate of the American Society of Cytology, making Frank and Carolyn the only husband-wife team in the AMA House of Delegates at the time. Frank also served as chairman for New Jersey and Delaware of the Inspection and Accreditation Program of the American Association of Blood Banks, chairman of the New Jersey Medical Political Action Committee and as a member of the American Academy of Medical Directors. He also was a member of the Glen Ridge Chapter of Rotary International and taught Sunday School at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church. In 1984, Frank was elected as the 192nd President of the Medical Society of New Jersey.
In 1985, Frank retired from Mountainside Hospital and took a position as Assistant Medical Director of Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, where he worked until his retirement in 1990.
Retirement allowed Frank to pursue interests outside of medicine and medical politics. He and Carolyn actively researched and documented the genealogy of their respective families. Frank also began work on a history of the Marine unit with which he served in the Korean War. In addition, Frank designed a house on Culver Lake in Sussex County, New Jersey, and oversaw and worked on the construction of the house. The house, which was named Innisfael (Gaelic for Holiday Home) was handicapped accessible, including an elevator, so that Frank's beloved mother-in-law, Lillian Wolfe, would be able to visit and stay comfortably for extended periods.
Frank is survived by his wife, Carolyn, of Cranes Mill, his sisters Eunice McCoy and Sally Graf, his sister-in-law Ellen Watson, his brother and sister-in-law Brad and Mary Watson and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Bill and Georgiana Wolfe. He is also survived by his children Jim and Marsha Watson, David Watson, Bruce and Joanne Watson and Lisa and Bill Cinotti, his grandchildren Lauren Watson, Kerry Watson, Andrew James Watson, Michael Cinotti, Jake Cinotti, Thomas Watson, Rosemary Watson and Matthew Watson and Nydia Maciques Webb and Jose Borrajero.
A memorial service to celebrate the life of Frank Watson will be held at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, 195 Ridgewood Avenue, Glen Ridge (973 743 5596) on Saturday, July 16 at 11 AM. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Garden of Memory of the Glen Ridge Congregational Church or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 14 Commerce Dr. Suite 301, Cranford NJ, 07016 (908 956-6600).