‘The symbol of belonging in Spokane County’: Happy Watkins, local civil rights leader and pastor, dies at 82

Percy “Happy” Watkins, who co-founded the annual Spokane march commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was long a voice in the civil rights campaign in Spokane, died Friday. He was 82 years old.

For decades he was known for voicing King as he recited his “I Have a Dream” speech each year at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in Spokane. The tradition of its annual recitation began as early as 1971, just three years after King’s assassination.

“It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Reverend Happy Watkins. Born in the Bronx, but a heart and soul Spokanita since 1961, he has served our community with a heart of gold and helped us remember Dr. King’s words as he recited the “I Have a Dream” speech each year as a watch and at events throughout the year,” Spokane City Council President Betsy Wilkerson wrote on Facebook.

Watkins was the longtime pastor of New Hope Baptist Church, leading the church from 1990 until his retirement in 2018. He and his close friend Ivan BushAnother prominent civil rights leader in Spokane, he organized the annual King’s March in Spokane for decades.

Born in the Bronx, Watkins came to Spokane in 1961 as an airman stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base. In a 2018 profile, Watkins expressed his bewilderment at the comparatively rural and white Spokane.

“I was 19 and a half years old and I started crying… (They told me) about bears, about harsh winters. “I was destroyed,” he recalled at the time.

Still, Watkins found community in the church and soon called Spokane home.

Over more than 60 years in the city, Watkins worked as an insurance salesman, opened a barbecue restaurant, ran for city council, led the local NAACP, married his wife Etta and raised four children.

Spokane Superior Court Judge Breean Beggs said Watkins always had an encouraging word for him. Beggs is the former director of the Spokane Center for Justice, which focused on civil rights issues.

“To me, Happy was the symbol of belonging to Spokane County. He was an example of that more than anyone I know,” said Beggs, former Spokane City Council president. “He made Spokane a better place.”

Steve Corker, who served eight years on the Spokane City Council from 2008 to 2011, said Watkins was like a “surrogate father” to him.

“I’m going to miss him,” Corker said. “He was a kind and good human being and we need more of them. He was willing to talk and bring people together, and we need more of that too.”

Corker and Watkins were active in Democratic politics in the 1970s, Corker said.

He said Watkins was his mentor during that time when Corker was in his 30s and relatively new to Spokane and politics.

“He was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the city of Spokane,” Corker said.

Watkins helped him understand minority issues early in his political career, and they both participated in the campaign of James Chase, who was elected in 1981 as Spokane’s first black mayor.

Like many people, Corker fondly remembered Watkins’ recitation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I just remember having a kind of rebirth of thought and affiliation every time he gave that speech,” Corker said.

Former Spokane Mayor David Condon, who served two terms in the 2010s, said Watkins came to his office on countless occasions to discuss issues centered on police and community relations, community centers and the black community.

Condon believed the first time he met Watkins was at the dedication of Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which runs through the university district and which Watkins advocated for.

“He is a titan in our community whose legacy will endure for generations to come,” Condon said.

Watkins was a longtime leader of the Spokane NAACP. Former chapter president Kurtis Robinson said Watkins kept the organization together as president when membership declined.

“He was there to keep the NAACP alive. And we have to do the same. His call to us is to take up the baton. “His legacy is for us to take it further,” he said.

Robinson said he saw Watkins just two weeks ago and that he was still the man who could make a crowd cry with MLK Jr.’s words.

“I know Happy had a dream for us too,” he said.

Spokane Unitarian pastor and friend of Watkins, Todd Eklof, said Watkins was an “icon” who “acted as a role model to all who knew him.” Before a marriage equality referendum in 2012, Watkins spoke publicly of his support for gay marriage. The move surprised some, but it was just one example of his bravery, Eklof said.

“Happy expressed his traditional faith in a nontraditional way,” he said of the Baptist preacher. “I was happy. And it made everyone else happy too.”

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.