Marcella Louise Rish Watford passed away on December 12, 2024, in Hamilton, Ohio. Interment is in White City Cemetery in Fort Pierce, Florida, next to her daughter.

Marcella was born September 19, 1950, in Hamilton, Ohio, to Robert E. and N. Louise Coffey Rish. Her father passed in 1963, and shortly thereafter the family moved to south Florida, eventually settling in Okeechobee in 1965.

Marcella attended Okeechobee High School and later graduated from Indian River Community College in Fort Pierce with an Associate Degree and an RN certification. She worked as a registered nurse in Okeechobee and Fort Pierce for many years and also around the country as a traveling nurse. Marcella especially enjoyed her time as an emergency room nurse. Her nursing career ended after she required heart surgery. She moved back to Ohio in the summer of 2004 and cared for her mother and brother Thomas to the end of their lives.

Marcella married Thomas Watford of Okeechobee in 1967; they were later divorced. She is mother to Melissa Ann Watford, who passed in 1981. Marcella had a deep and abiding love for her daughter and hoped for the day she would see her again.

Marcella is survived by her sister, Marilyn Rish Parks of Springville, Utah, and niece, Jennifer Parks Sommerfeldt of Mapleton, Utah. She was preceded in death by her daughter, parents, and brother Thomas Rish.