Lewie Watkins, born February 14, 1896, near Harrison, Arkansas, was a World War I veteran, schoolteacher, lawyer, and businessman. He was also active in church, fraternal, and civic organizations. An employee of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad Company in 1917, he returned to the railroad after service in World War I and was continuously employed by it and successor corporations until at least 1946, rising from clerk and errand boy to president. He was director of the Arkansas Power and Light Company from 1941 until about 1971, as well as president of the Security Bank, Harrison, member of the Arkansas State Board of Education, chairman of the first Tourism Committee for Arkansas, secretary-treasurer and director of the Boone County Soil and Water Conservation District, and owner, director, executive, or advisor to a number of other businesses and organizations.