He attended Washington Elementary and graduated from Smith-Cotton High School in 1946. He was a lifelong member of East Sedalia Baptist Church. He made his profession of faith when he was 13. In 1959, he was ordained as a deacon, serving as chairman on numerous occasions. He was a Sunday school teacher and director, a trustee and served on the finance and personnel committees.
He served in the Marines from 1951 to 1953. Upon discharge, he worked in the classified advertising department at The Sedalia Democrat for four years. He joined the sales staff of Prudential Insurance in 1958. He retired from there in 1991.
When he was a teenager, he played baseball for the American Junior Legion, the Ban Johnson League and the Sedalia Merchants. He later played fast pitch softball with the Sedalia industrial teams and finally in the Harmony Association church league. He enjoyed fishing, hunting and woodworking. He was a master woodmaker. He made furniture and several smaller items that he gave to his children and grandchildren.
After he retired, he took trips to Texas every winter with his wife. They also took a cruise to Alaska and a cruise to Hawaii to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
Also surviving are a daughter, Pamela Davidson, and her husband, Jack, of Tucker, Ga.; three sons, Timothy Waters, and his wife, Sharon, of St. Joseph, Mark Waters, and his wife, Machelle, of Goddard, Kan., and Roger Waters, of Sedalia; a brother, Ralph L. Waters, of Sedalia; two sisters, Mary Catherine Snow, of Kingsville, and Ruth Griswold, of Sedalia; 11 grandchildren, Jason Waters, Benjamin Waters, Rachel Davidson Sulhoff, Julia Davidson, Spencer Davidson, Sarah Waters, Daniel Waters, Isaac Waters, Micah Waters, Melody Waters and Grant Waters; and three great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at East Sedalia Baptist Church, with the Rev. Jim West and the Rev. Ray McDonald officiating. Pallbearers will be grandchildren. Honorary pallbearers will be deacons of East Sedalia Baptist Church. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Heckart Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the East Sedalia Baptist Church Building Fund.
Joseph A. Waters, 79, of Sedalia, died Tuesday, March 18, 2008, at his home.
He was born Nov. 22, 1928, in Pettis County, a son of John Lloyd and Lula Steele Waters. On June 5, 1949, at East Sedalia Baptist Church, he was married to Joann L. Williams, who survives of the home.
