Karen Hunter Watson

We lost a light with the passing of Karen Hunter Watson. She sat down with me for Heroes I Know. That tape is why this page is here.

A hero that I know. Maywood, Illinois. Suburb of Chicago. Born in the fifties. Grew up in the sixties. She stayed until she was about thirty-three, then she moved south.

She grew up Jehovah’s Witness. Strict house. She was not that kind of kid. She sang with her dad. He was a gospel singer. He sat her on his knee. Family in Evanston, three doors from a Baptist church. That music got in her. She always wanted to sing. That is what she does.

School was not easy. She was smart. Kids ran her home until she fought back. One year of high school. Fifteen and pregnant. They would not let her stay in school. She got a GED. She told the hard part on tape so it would be on the record. She was raped at twelve. Wrong place, wrong time. She married young. He was violent. She left with a baby who was still little. Kin came. She survived. Some of the music came out of that.

She has a book. My Journey to Myself. She wanted to be a singer. I got to play a little part in an album she did. I am proud of that work. She walked around the world. They dug. They planted. They prayed. Whatever the place needed. In the Netherlands they found cancer in her breast. She would not stop the walk for radiation. Years later, throat cancer. Chemotherapy. Nine weeks. She sat in that chair with a mantra she still uses. Liquid light, liquid life, flow through me both day and night. She would not sit with woe-is-me. She said God is a healer.

Audri Scott Williams is her partner. Dennis is her oldest, in South Carolina. Her youngest is with them. Chef. He and his wife can anything. Audri’s sons came when the trees came down. John is the Army man who puts people in place. She prays for the Spiritual Enrichment Center of Dothan. She prays for the world. She said she is the elder now. She does not mind.

A storm took the trees. A three-hundred-year-old oak. The house stood. She thanked the trees for falling on the ground and not on them. She does not claim a denomination. Child of God. Church of the universe. Know who you are. Love who you are. Be who you are. Be the best of who you can be.

We sat together. We sang. Thank you, Karen. Your story matters. You will not be forgotten. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.