CAMARILLO : Automobile Dealer Hal Watkins Dies

Longtime Ventura County resident and businessman Hal Watkins died early Wednesday morning at his home in Camarillo.

Watkins, 66, had suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases for years, said Robert Beltz, a friend and business associate. He had been confined to a Camarillo nursing home for three years before being transferred to his home last week.

A resident of Ventura County for 26 years, Watkins owned Hal Watkins Chevrolet in Oxnard since 1965. He also owned a BMW and a Mitsubishi franchise in Camarillo, which were sold last year. The Oxnard dealership also is being sold, Beltz said.

Watkins is described as “first and foremost an automobile person.”

“Everything in his business and personal life revolved around automobiles,” Beltz said. “The only vacations he took were automotive functions, but he was able to travel all over the world.”

Watkins’ dedication to his work earned him the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award in 1978 and 1986, as well as recognition from the Southern California Automobile Dealers Assn.

Watkins was a member of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Oxnard.

In 1973, he donated a 1906 house at 509 E. Daily Drive to the Boy Scouts of America, which uses it as the Ventura County Council headquarters.

Watkins began his automobile sales career in Los Angeles after serving as a Marine Corps combat photographer in World War II. He bought his first dealership in 1960 in Pasadena, followed by a Chevrolet dealership in Victorville. He bought the Chevrolet dealership in Oxnard in October, 1965.

Watkins is survived by his wife, Violet, of Camarillo; sons, Gary Watkins of San Diego and Craig Watkins of Camarillo; sister, Wilma Snyder of Camarillo, and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the United Methodist Church, 291 Anacapa St., Camarillo.