Nicole Watson is someone who would light up the room with her big smile.
Friends and family remember her as genuine, caring, fun-loving and sometimes a little goofy.
“Maybe heaven needed some more light,” Watson’s friend Kailynn Warren said. “And she had a lot of it.”
Watson died Dec. 14 after a collision with a car which was driving the wrong way on I-65 Boone County. She was a senior studying pharmaceutical sales at the Kelley School of Business.
She is survived by her parents, Bill and Lois Watson, her twin brother Nathan Watson and her sister Kaitlyn Wadman.
On weekends, Lois Watson said her daughter would come home asking for her favorite shepherd’s pie. She was close with her mother, cousins and siblings, Lois Watson said.
She said her daughter cared a lot about the environment and politics because she wanted the world to be a better place for her younger cousins.
“She was a good soul,” she said. “She really was.”
Lois Watson said her daughter touched and left a mark on everyone who knew her.
“She was just a little spunk of a girl who just loved life,” she said. “I’ve got some wonderful memories. Twenty-two years of wonderful memories.”
Watson’s friend Annie Perkins said she first met her in their junior high school’s band class. She remembered her as a sweet and goofy girl who would make everyone laugh. Perkins said she was planning to meet up with her Dec. 15, the day after the accident.
“Every time she walked into a room, she would probably make friends with everyone,” Perkins said. “Because that’s just how she was – very loud and friendly.”
Her authenticity is the most valuable thing Watson has left in this world, Perkins said. Watson would rather be herself than care about what other people think, she said.
“Every time she walked into a room, she would probably make friends with everyone. Because that’s just how she was – very loud and friendly.”
— Annie Perkins
Warren said there was never a dull moment with Watson. She and Watson went to high school together in their hometown, Greenfield, Indiana. She said Watson had a goofy and talkative personality and would give her both logical and funny advice.
Watson always wanted to get out of her hometown, Warren said. She transferred to IU-Bloomington her sophomore year. Warren said Watson wanted to know about everything happening on-campus and around Bloomington.
Breanna Coscia, a close friend of Watson’s, met her five years ago. She said it felt as if she had known Watson since elementary school. Watson was always one call away, and now she aspires to be as good a friend as Watson was, Coscia said.
“She was just always there to listen,” she said.
Coscia said Watson was unapologetically true to herself and would tell her friends to also be themselves.
“‘Do what makes you happy.’ That was kind of her mindset,” she said.
