The Rev. Dr. George Stennis Watson, age 70, of Richardson, Texas, formerly of Tupelo, Mississippi, passed away Saturday, January 13, 2024, in McKinney, Texas.  A Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, January 27, 2024, at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany located  at 421 Custer Road, Richardson, Texas, with The Rev. Canon Dr. David Petrash officiating. A second Celebration of Life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the All Saints Episcopal Church, located at 608 West Jefferson Street, Tupelo, Mississippi, with The Rt. Rev. John McKee Sloan and Rev. Lowell Edward Grisham officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Aulds Funeral Home of Archer City, Texas.

Stennis was born December 2, 1953 to the late George Barrett Watson and Jeanette Carr Winkler in Tupelo, Mississippi.  Stennis grew up in Tupelo, attending St Luke United Methodist Church. He went to Methodist Camp Lake Stevens and would always consider church camp one of the great good things in life.  Stennis was a graduate of Tupelo High School. He attended Itawamba Community College, and as in high school, he played football with some of the very finest of young men and friends.  Stennis graduated from Millsaps College in 1975. He was confirmed in the Episcopal Church while studying at Claremont School of Theology and during this time discovered his vocation to the priesthood. He came home to Mississippi for pastoral studies in preparation for seminary and made a group of lifelong friends with whom he began his journey of serving God and his community.  He read theology at Harvard University where in 1977, he earned his Masters of Divinity.  In 1980 he graduated from General Theological Seminary in New York and was ordained to the diaconate of the Episcopal Church in 1980 and to the priesthood in 1981, The Church of Holy Trinity, Vicksburg.  He served as the Vicar at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Columbus and Chaplain at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.  Stennis earned his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Mississippi.  He did postdoctoral studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and University of Washington, Seattle.  Stennis was an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Washington Medical School where he studied Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

In 2012, he retired and moved to Richardson, Texas where he married Barbara Craft on March 13, 2012.  Stennis loved fishing, traveling, and playing guitar.  Stennis was loved and respected by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Stennis is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Richardson, Texas; three stepchildren, Mary Elizabeth, Robert Cooper, and David Whitman, all of Richardson and sister, Janet Watson and family Lorelei Hudspeth, Georgette Geotsi, Sylvia Seal, Elizabeth McKay and Marion Winkler.

Memorials may be made to the Church of the Epiphany, 421 Custer Road, Richardson, Texas 75080 and to Camp Bratton-Green online here or mailed to Gray Center/Camp Bratton-Green, 1530 Way Road, Canton, MS 39046.