Alfred C. Watts

Alfred Chapman Watts was born in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, on January 18, 1944 to parents James William Watts, Jr. and Virginia Chapman Watts.  He left this world in Lake City, Minnesota on June 19, 2021 at the age of 77.  Alfred (Al) and his brothers William (Bill) and Richard (Dick) grew up in the house his father built on Watts Bayou, near the town of Bay Saint Louis.  He was a devoted and much-loved husband and father, loved sailing in his youth and after retirement, and enjoyed life in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico.  Alfred was an avid bicyclist and rode his bicycle to work and with colleagues throughout his career. After retirement, Alfred spent summers in Frontenac, Minnesota, and looked forward to sailing Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River each season.  He was active in the HAM radio community (call sign AF5VH), serving as Second Period Coordinator and Information Officer in the YL System for many years.  He was a well-regarded member of the Hiawatha Valley Amateur Radio Club in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Alfred graduated from Mississippi State University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1966. He joined the Sandia Corporation in June of that year as a member of the Technical Development Program, earning a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (M.S.S.E) degree from the University of New Mexico in 1967. He returned to Mississippi State on a leave of absence from Sandia in order to pursue a Ph.D. in 1970.  In 1971 Alfred rejoined Sandia as a member of the Doctoral Studies Program.  In 1972 he received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and returned to Sandia as a regular employee and Member of the Technical Staff.

Dr. Alfred Chapman Watts looked back with satisfaction on a long, meaningful career at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  His technical interests throughout most of his career focused on inertial navigation and guidance and control systems for missiles and maneuvering reentry vehicles.  He was a visionary and an accomplished engineer and missile defense pioneer in the field of hypersonics.  He was a tremendous mentor and developer of engineers and future leaders.  Al always looked for the good in people and was adept at identifying appropriate growth opportunities for the members of his team.  Post-retirement, he continued his association with Sandia as a Consultant.  In that role, he mentored the next generation of flight control systems engineers, all of whom greatly appreciated and admired Al’s wisdom and friendship.

He had an uncanny knack for taking complex concepts, boiling them down, and producing practical and efficient solutions to very difficult and challenging problems.  The breadth of Al’s knowledge was extraordinary, as was his demonstrated ability to apply it.  He spent his entire professional career at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM.  His 40+ year career involved leadership positions on technically challenging problems of National Security interest.

Although he held a PhD in Electrical Engineering, the bulk of Al’s professional career was focused on aerospace engineering applications, especially those involving things that fly fast!  He made significant contributions to a variety of flight system applications over the years.  He also made notable contributions to the development of the Nation’s Missile Defense system.  One of Al’s most notable contributions was his work involving the autopilot control system for a winged maneuvering reentry vehicle that he helped develop in the late 1970’s.  The initial development effort culminated in a successful flight-test in 1985 and eventually led to another flight test 25 years later using updated control system technology which Al conceived and implemented.  The results of this flight test legacy now serve as the foundation for a new hypersonic weapon system that the United States is developing for near term deployment and use by the military.

When it came to the technical aspects involving flight vehicle control systems Al had few peers.  He never ceased to amaze with his ability to make technical contributions involving any and all aspects of navigation, guidance, and control systems.  His abilities were well-known throughout Sandia, and the broader communities throughout the government sector that he worked with on military aerospace technologies and applications.  Although for much of his career he was a technical department manager, he uniquely provided a wealth of technical contributions at the project level, which many times surpassed those of the staff he supervised.  It was common for Al to take on technical assignments generally viewed as too difficult by others.  And he never failed to deliver. In addition to all the various flight system applications he supported, Al also spent a few years supporting clandestine activities of national security significance during a stint in Sandia’s intelligence organization.  Though Al could never discuss these activities, related historical artifacts confirm that his efforts in this area were of prominence and importance to US National security.

Al was a man of many talents, some of which not everyone knew about. Many of his talents were a result of his life’s passions, and some resulted from his lifelong pursuit of knowledge.    He was fascinated by aircraft of all kinds and was known to build models of his favorite planes from time to time.  As new technologies emerged it was common for Al to engage in self-study and rapidly become proficient.   On top of his technical capabilities he was also a sailing expert – so much so that in his younger years he helped train competitors for the United States Olympic team.  In his retirement years Al spent his summers navigating his sailboat on the Mississippi river near his second home in Minnesota. He was a wonderful cook and loved to make meals for family and friends. While Alfred enjoyed a highly successful career, the most impressive thing about him was his quiet, gentle strength. He generally didn’t say more than what needed to be said. He was a man of integrity and a true gentleman.  He and his wife raised two sons, Chapman and James, in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.  Nothing gave him more happiness than time spent with his children and family.  In 2002, Al married Jan Armstrong, a Professor at the University of New Mexico, warmly welcoming step-son Adam, and step-daughter Angelina, to the Watts family.

Alfred is survived by his wife, Jan Armstrong, sons Alfred Chapman (Angela) Watts, Jr. and James (Ashley) Watts, brother Richard (Bonnie) Watts, sister-in-law Beatty Watts, step-son Adam Gamradt, and step-daughter Angelina Gamradt, and brother-in-law, James Thomas Armstrong.  He was preceded in death by his parents and brother James William Watts III (Bill).

A Celebration of Life will be held Tuesday, June 29th at 11 am at the Mahn Family Funeral Home Anderson - Peterson Chapel Lake City. A time of Sharing will be from 10 to 11 on Tuesday at the funeral home. The family would like to invite everyone down to the Lake City Yacht Club for a light lunch following the Celebration of Life.

Memorial donations can be made to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation https://pkdcure.org/, the New Mexico Philharmonic https://nmphil.org, or the Minnesota Orchestra https://minnesotaorchestra.org.