Happy Watkins, civil rights leader and Spokane pastor, dies at 82

SPOKANE – Percy “Happy” Watkins, who co-founded the annual Spokane march commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a longtime 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 Bush, another prominent civil rights leader in Spokane, organized the annual King March in Spokane during 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.