WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL)—A woman who has been a vital part of the preservation of Wichita Falls’s history has sadly passed away.

Lita Watson became the Wichita County Archivist for the Museum of North Texas History back in the early 90s and well the rest is history. When speaking with friends and family, the common trend was that Watson truly cared for Wichita County and made a huge impact in preserving the history of our county for generations.

“The museum of North Texas History relies on archives to find things, document things, and validate things,” son of Lita, Carl Watson, said.

And this woman right here was responsible for all of this.

“Well, history is just interesting wherever you are it’s kind of fun to find out what the history was,” Lita Watson said.

Long time friend of Watson, Becky Trammell said this room was a second home to Watson, a room not only filled with important archives but a room filled with passion when Watson was present.

“You walk around here and it’s hard not to see something that Lita touched, that Lita influenced and if you talk to people in the community they say, well if you need to know anything about history you’d call Lita Watson,” Trammell said.

Watson served on the board of directors for the museum and was actually the one responsible for getting the archive room to where it is now, and that love for preserving the past is something that her son Carl Watson said has been with her since he was a child, beginning in church.

“She very much enjoyed the history of the Christian faith, that was her education her undergraduate degree, and so she liked to teach that, she taught Sunday school for 40 years and the history of the bible was very important so as kids yes we definitely got that history,” Watson said.

Current Wichita County Archivist, Bryce Blair said he’s in his position now because of Watson.

“The first time I came to the archive I was researching a project I was working on and she was the archivist and she helped me out and I kept coming back and back and she kept giving me more information and I learned really quick this lady knows what she’s doing here, she had a wide knowledge of our local history,” Blair said.

And it’s that care for the people, places, and things in Wichita County that is going to truly be missed.

“Personally ill miss her so much and this whole community will miss having that type of person who was so devoted and so passionate about the history of this area,” Trammell said.

A celebration of life is being held Friday, January 27th, at First Christian Church across from Midwestern State University beginning at 1 pm and is open to the public where a reception will be held afterward.