Services Set For Blair Man’s Brother

Funeral services will be Friday, April 1, at Crosby-Kunold-Burket Chapel, 24th and J, in Omaha, for Paul E. Watts, 50, who died March 29, 1983, at Midlands Hospital as a result of an accident.

His car and another collided March 15 shortly after he left the courtroom where he was representing a defendant in a criminal case. Another man, Joseph D. Edney, 25, a clerk in Watts’ office, was killed outright in the crash.

He is the brother of John Watts of Blair who operates the Goodrich Store here.

Paul E. Watts graduated from South High School and from Creighton University in 1954. He spent two years in the Army and then returned to Creighton and law school.

He entered practice in South Omaha in 1958. Concentrating on criminal cases, in 1975, he was commended by the Douglas County District Court for his defense, without fee, in a first-degree murder case. He was one of three Omaha lawyers who had been named a fellow in the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, an honorary society restricted to lawyers who have tried at least 50 felony cases with 10 percent being capital punishment or life-term charges that were successfully defended.

He is survived by his wife, Ilene; a son, Paul J; and seven daughters, Mrs. Cynthia Crisp and Mrs. Pamela Reilly, both of Omaha; and Tammy, Kimberly, Denise, Yvonne and Sherry, all at home. A brother, John Watts, of Blair, and three grand-children also survive him.