Marguerite Watkins

Gordon’s parents were Lynchburgers and he was educated in the Lynchburg schools, attending E. C. Glass. He went to Virginia Tech for a BS in Mechanical Engineering and to MIT for his Master’s degree. He was on the educational council of MIT for thirty-five years, interviewing prospective students. Gordon was first at Wiley and Wilson Consulting Engineers where he became vice president, working on large technical jobs for both the government and the private sector. For twenty-two years he worked on projects at the White House. He became one of the founding partners of the Greenwood Partnership from which he retired in 1999 and for whom he continued to consult for several years. Among Gordon’s many interests were playing the piano and pipe organ, bell choir, model railroading, airplanes and photography. He is president elect of the Virginia Baptist Hospital Auxiliary

Marguerite’s parents were Methodist missionaries in India. She attended boarding school in the Himalayas and was there at the time of India’s independence and partition. She attended Bates College in Maine, and met Gordon in Boston. Marguerite helped the Lynchburg Area Association for Retarded Children start a school that later became The LAUREL Regional Program. She earned a Master’s degree in Special Education from Lynchburg College. She has written a memoir and two poetry books. She enjoys hiking, writing, travel, and the arts.

Marguerite and Gordon have been married fifty-seven years and have four children and ten grandchildren. They are members of First Presbyterian Church where both have served on the session.