Watkins, Billie F.'s Obituary
Billie Watkins 01/31/1942 - 03/11/2026 Billie (Mammy) Watkins, born January 31st 1942 in Shawnee, Oklahoma passed away peacefully in her bed on March 11th, 2026, age 84, at her home in El Cajon, CA. Raised primarily by her grandmother, she was the daughter of Pierce St. John and Jacqueline O’Bryan and sister to Sandra and William, Billie was a member of the Osage Nation and cared deeply for her heritage. She attended Catholic school, worked a number of jobs, traveled, built a family, cared for her grandchildren and lived life fully - dancing, laughing and loving along the way.
She married James Watkins in 1962 in Miami, OK, and together they had 3 children, Mikhail, Lori, and Gavin. She was preceded in death by her sons, Mikhail and Gavin, and is survived by her daughter Lori; her grandchildren, Jessica, Pierce, and Genieva; and her great-grandchildren, Evann and Arianna.
Billie was a proud member of AA and on Dec 15th, 2025, she celebrated her 45th year of sobriety. That day was always more important to her than her “belly-button-birthday”. She took her last breath on her 16,523rd day of sobriety to be exact - one day at a time.
In 1990 she moved to El Cajon California to live with her daughter Lori and that is where she stayed until the day she passed. Taking care of everything and everyone around her with never a second thought. She loved the drums, always ordered sandwiches with double meat, smoked Pall Mall non-filters, preferred Pepsi to Coke, and couldn’t say no to a bologna and mayo sandwich with a serrano pepper. She loved the serenity prayer, watching the hawks, and Russel Crowe’s voice.
She didn’t lie - as a rule, and if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right; the type to clean tile with a tooth brush, and weed the yard with a paring knife; “you never overfill the washing machine and you always scrub the dishes before you put them in the dish-washer.” And every time she got home, she would walk through the door and shout “Heydi-Ho!” or “Rooty-Toot!” - her way of letting everyone know it wasn’t a stranger and we weren’t being robbed - her way of making us feel safe.
She taught us that there are two things you can bring into this life, “chaos or harmony”. We will always do our best to choose harmony.
Billie always said she wasn’t afraid of death, that she was “going home” - and now, she has. She will be forever missed. A service was held Monday, March 30th, 2026 at Greenwood Memorial Park where she was interred to rest.Get Outlook for
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