Theodore "Ted" Watson

Theodore (Ted) Jeffrey Watson sadly passed early Thursday morning, June 26, 2025, at his home in Livingston after a short battle with an aggressive cancer and later stage Alzheimers.

Ted was born on May 8,1939, in Detroit, Michigan to Theodore Jewett Watson and Gertude (Grace) Diane (Nichols) Watson. After his mother’s death when he was 7 and his father’s remarriage, he spent his youth in the Great Lakes area and up and down the New England coast living with his mother’s family and friends until he started high school. That time instilled in him a lifelong love of fishing, hunting and just being in the wilds of the outdoors. After graduating from high school in Norwalk Connecticut, he went to the University of Connecticut (UCONN) on a football (another passion of his life) scholarship. Sadly, in his junior year he suffered an injury that ended his football dreams but it headed him to his next stage of life, modeling with/for the Ford Modeling Agency in New York City, NY. He was recognized from many ads he was pictured in from Montgomery Wards, Sears catalogs, the New York Times, TV Guide, Sports Illustrated and many others. He did ads for many clothing apparel lines, Coca Cola, Schlitz Beer and other local beer brands, cigarette brands and other items as well. Many people in Livingston used to comment about him as one of the "Marlboro Men", He would always thank them for the compliment and then privately laugh and tell his wife and children "I did ads for L&M, Camel, Lucky Strike, and American Spirit but I don't ever remember doing any for Marlboro cigarettes."

Having much success in, but tiring of the grind in the modeling industry, he decided in the early 60's to take some time away and with his love of the outdoors venture west to the places he had been reading about his whole life in outdoor magazines, Alaska and the Northwest US. At that time Dan Bailey's Fly Shop in Livingston was, and still is, an icon in the fly-fishing industry so it was one of his first stops along the way. While staying in Livingston, hunting and fishing, he met the love of his life, Georgann Myers, one afternoon at Mark’s In and Out. After that it took 10 years for him to make it to the west coast and 20 years to get to Alaska. After he and Georgann were married in December of 1964 they returned to New York City for him to do more modeling, however after 6 months Ted could no longer take that life (Georgann says she never fit in there) and they returned to start the next leg of life together, raising sheep and then Registered Black Angus cattle along with an agricultural life style and a little later two young boys.

He excelled at almost every endeavor he undertook, from fly fishing, Spey casting, tying flies for trout, salmon, steelhead and even saltwater game fish, making handmade hunting knives, duck and goose hunting, carving and painting duck and goose decoys, owning and training National Champion Labrador retriever dogs, owning and training English Springer Spaniels for upland game bird shooting, the art of trapping and snaring fur bearing animals, hunting all of the species of big game Montana had to offer, to raising and breeding registered Black Angus cattle or helping someone buy or sell a ranch. He always took the time to help anyone (especially his boys) interested in any of it, no matter how new to it they were or even being taught something himself.

It was just another day to start the morning talking about how to breed cattle, go through the calves and realize the mistakes of last year, spend a few hours practicing Spey casting on the lawn and end the day at the fly tying desk getting ready for that fall trip to somewhere.

Ted was always involved with his boys’ lives when they were young and tried to stay that way when they grew older. Ted tried to be quietly involved with the community he lived in, but inevitably he ended up being heavily involved in local endeavors. Ted made many dear friends in all aspects/spheres of his life, all of which he told fond stories of and about.

He is survived by his loving wife Georgann of Livingston, oldest son, Tim (Lynda) of Livingston, his youngest son, Justin of Bradford, New Hampshire, 6 grandchildren, Tom Buckley (Katie), Katie Monaco (Tyler), Ujal Watson, Shabda Watson, Surya Watson and Sahaji Watson, 3 great granddaughters, Brylee Buckley, Gwenivere Monaco, and Myla Monaco. He is preceded in death by his parents and Justin’s wife Wendy (Grether).

A celebration of his life will be held in the future, time and place to be announced.

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