Harold Ray Watson

Early life Watson was born on a farm from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the second child and only son of Joseph Watson and Dorothy Mae Cagle. His father farmed cotton, corn and watermelon on of sloping hillside land. His parents separated and his father worked at a government arsenal in Texas and later remarried, but his mother and the two children remained in Mississippi on the family farm.

Watson studied at McLaurin Elementary School and Forrest County Agricultural High School, graduating in 1952. He then served in the United States Air Force from 1952 to 1956. Following his discharge, he married his wife, Joyce,

Calling to Missionary work The idea of becoming a missionary came to Watson whilst on active duty during the Korean War. After graduating university in 1960, he spent a year at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a further year teaching vocational agriculture at North Forrest High School in Eatonville, Mississippi, before applying for missionary work. He received an appointment as agricultural evangelist to the Philippines in May 1964. and relief organisation to battle hunger.

Dissertation Watson, H. R. (1960). A Study of Agricultural Education in Foreign Lands Sponsored by Various Religious Mission Boards. M.S. Mississippi State University, Department of Agricultural Education.